TOl Met Gala 2026 the theme Costume Art invited us to reflect on the relationship between clothing and the human bodyand the dress code Fashion Is Art to treat the skin like a blank canvas. Some of the most awaited guests took the indication literally, some too much. The result was an evening of bare backs, illusionistic and transparent corsets calculated to the millimetre, with jewels used as the only shelter. Yes, this year too, the Met Gala rhymed with seduction.
Irina Shayk’s look at the 2026 Met Gala: forty years old and no desire to cover up
Irina Shayk chose a custom Alexander Wang that used costume jewelry instead of fabric: a bra made entirely of costume jewelry, nothing else on top, and sculpted abs as a backdrop. At 40, on the most photographed red carpet in the world, without an ounce of insecurity. The look was a style statement even before a dress: when you have that physique and that presence, covering up would almost be a missed opportunity.
Irina Shayk at the 2026 Met Gala. (EPA/SARAH YENESEL)
Gigi Hadid infallible in transparent black
A Miu Miu completely transparentblack as the New York night, with underwear on display and decorations positioned with surgical precision where strictly necessary. Gigi Hadid, 31, walked down the stairs of the Met with the confidence of someone who has nothing to prove and everything to show. Transparent worn like this is not a provocation: it is an aesthetic position. The Italian fashion house has fully captured the spirit of the dress code.
Kylie Jenner: Schiaparelli and the art of illusion
The look that sent social media into a tailspin belongs to Kylie Jenner28 years old: a Schiaparelli dress with Skin-colored upper corset, very tight and covered in jewelspaired with a cream satin skirt tied at mid-waist with pearl detailing. The hairstyle reduced to a single thread around the eyes, oversized earrings and necklace en suite: every detail was calibrated to appear naked without actually being so. Someone online wrote “is she naked or is this the new trend?” and the answer was, of course, both.
Kylie Jenner’s look at the Met Gala 2026. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
Cara Delevingne severe in front, naked behind
Front view, Cara Delevingne in Ralph Lauren was a vision of poise: long black turtleneck, elegant, almost severe. Rear view, the back completely exposed up to the waist it changed everything. The coup de theater of the evening, built on a surprising architecture that few designers still know how to manage so well. Delevingne, 33, performed it with the nonchalance of someone who knows exactly what she’s doing.
Tyla and Lena Mahfouf: jewelry as dress
Singer Tyla carried forward the logic of décolleté covered only by a costume jewelery constructionwith cover-worthy results. French influencer Lena Mahfouf, 28, has upped the ante even further: a relief cast of two hands covering the breasts, combined with a baby-blue dress with a narrow waist and thin straps. Pure couture surrealismthe only look of the evening that could have stayed in the exhibition without explanation.
Tyla on the red carpet at the Metropolitan Museum. (EPA/SARAH YENESEL)
Vittoria Ceretti and Gabrielle Union: two ways of being irresistible
Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriend Vittoria Ceretti left her abs at the center of everythingwithout mediations. Gabrielle Union chose instead a delicate sheer that allowed the silhouette to be seen with restraintmore elegance than audacity. Two opposite approaches to the same dress codeboth convincing, both very photographed.
Vittoria Ceretti with visible abs at the Met Gala 2026. (Photo by Cindy Ord/MG26/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
Joey King: brilliant and without regrets
Joey King turned up the heat with a sparkling number that didn’t leave much to the imagination and he didn’t apologize for it. Among the under-thirty most present of the evening, he embodied the spirit of the dress code with the right amount of easewithout the cold perfection of top models and with all the energy of those who are there to have fun.
The Joey King look. (Photo by Cindy Ord/MG26/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
“It looks like prom”: the web doesn’t appreciate it
Not everyone applauded. «The Met Gala feels like a cheap prom» someone wrote, and the tweet made the rounds. «Too little to be art»: criticism has mainly targeted those looks which, in the race for leather, they had lost any idea along the way. Curator Andrew Bolton warned: fashion becomes art through the body, not simply by showing it. On the red carpet, the difference was visible.
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