TL;DR — What You Need to Know
The Met Gala is fashion's biggest annual night, held every first Monday of May at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A unique exhibition theme and dress code define each edition. Here's a quick recap:
2026 — "Fashion Is Art"
2025 — "Tailored for You" (Black dandyism and menswear)
2024 — "Garden of Time" (nature, fragility, multisensory fashion)
2023 — "In Honor of Karl" (tribute to Karl Lagerfeld)
2022 — "Gilded Glamour" (post-Civil War America)
2021 — "American Independence" (reimagined American pride)
2019 — "Studied Triviality" (Camp aesthetics)
Need licensed Met Gala images? IMAGO has you covered.
The Met Gala is an annual fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute in New York City. It traditionally marks the opening of the Costume Institute's exhibition. The Met Gala guest list is extremely exclusive and often includes a mix of fashion icons, celebrities, artists, designers and personalities from the worlds of film, music, sport and business.
What makes the Met Gala so special is the combination of fashion, art and celebrities. It is one of the most highly regarded and discussed fashion events worldwide. It attracts international attention each year as guests appear in extravagant and often avant-garde outfits, often inspired by a particular theme related to the Costume Institute's current exhibition.
- Fashion Is Art — Met Gala Theme 2026
The 2026 Met Gala, taking place on May 4 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, carries what may be its most open-ended dress code yet: "Fashion Is Art." The theme mirrors the Costume Institute's spring exhibition "Costume Art," which examines the centrality of the dressed body and brings together more than 400 objects — garments from the Institute's own collection alongside paintings and other works of art.
With a dress code this deliberately broad, guests are expected to push creative boundaries, treating their outfits as artistic statements in their own right. All eyes will be on the red carpet to see how fashion's biggest names interpret the theme.
IMAGO / Everett Collection / Kristin Callahan
IMAGO / Everett Collection / Kristin Callahan
Superfine: Tailoring Black Style — Met Gala Theme 2025
The 2025 Met Gala, held on May 5, celebrated "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style", the Costume Institute's most significant exploration of menswear since 2003. Curated by Monica L. Miller and inspired by her 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, the exhibition traced 300 years of Afrodiasporic sartorial history, from the 18th century to the present day.
The dress code, "Tailored for You," invites guests to reinterpret suiting, silhouettes, fabrics, and accessories through a personal lens — equal parts guidance and creative freedom. Co-chairs Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, and Pharrell Williams, alongside perennial host Anna Wintour, set the tone for an evening that celebrated Black style as both cultural statement and high art. LeBron James served as honorary chair.
The exhibition ran at The Met Fifth Avenue from May 10 through October 26, 2025.
IMAGO / UPI Photo / JOHN ANGELILLO
Sleeping Beauties, Reawakening Fashion - Met Gala Theme 2024
The 2024 Met Gala took place on May 6 under the theme "Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion." The exhibition featured 220 items exclusively from the Costume Institute's own permanent collection — curator Andrew Bolton described it as one of the institute's most ambitious shows yet. Its central concept revolved around the fragility and ephemerality of fashion: 16 garments so delicate they could no longer stand upright were displayed lying flat in glass cases, like sleeping beauties slumbering in the museum's climate-controlled archives.
The dress code, "Garden of Time," was inspired by J.G. Ballard's 1962 short story, and the red carpet fully reflected it. Co-chairs Zendaya and Jennifer Lopez led the arrivals on a green-tinged carpet lined with live foliage — Zendaya in peacock-colored Maison Margiela with leaf accents, and Lopez in a near-naked Schiaparelli gown adorned with silver leaves. Other memorable looks came from Mindy Kaling in sand-colored swirls by Indian couturier Gaurav Gupta, and Demi Moore in a Harris Reed design featuring large wings handpainted with pink and white blooms.
IMAGO / UPI Photo / JOHN ANGELILLO
In honor of Karl - MET Gala Theme 2023
The Met Gala 2023 was held in honor of fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, who died in 2019. Appropriately, the dress code was "In honor of Karl". The exhibition showcased Lagerfeld's work for Chanel, Fendi and Chloé, as well as garments from his own brand. Memorable are the looks of Jared Leto, Doja Cat and Lil Nas X.
- IMAGO / UPI Photo / JOHN ANGELILLO
Gilded Glamour - MET Gala Theme 2022
In 2022, the dress code was "Gilded Glamour" and was inspired by the economic growth after the American Civil War and before the turn of the century. Kim Kardashian caused a sensation by wearing an original dress that Marilyn Monroe had worn when she sang 'Happy Birthday’ to President John F Kennedy in 1962.
IMAGO / UPI Photo
American Independence - MET Gala Theme 2021
The Met Gala 2021 also drew on American history. The dress code "American Independence" was intended to reinterpret American national pride in the context of current events. The exhibition was designed to prove that patriotism can be more than stars and stripes.
IMAGO / UPI Photo / JOHN ANGELILLO
Studied Triviality - MET Gala Theme 2019
The dress code for the Met Gala 2019 "Studied Triviality” offers a wide range of possible interpretations. The focus of the exhibition was the Camp concept, shaped by Susan Sontag, which stands for an intentional love of overstatement and the unnatural. Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Cardi B attracted attention this year with their unique looks.
IMAGO / UPI Photo / JOHN ANGELILLO
License Met Gala Images with IMAGO
At IMAGO, we have witnessed the gilded excess of 2022, the Black dandyism of 2025 and now will be present in the artistic freedom of 2026, with ready-to-use licensed images that serve as a testament that the Met Gala continues to reinvent itself each year — not only through its exhibitions but through the extraordinary fashion it inspires.
From red-carpet arrivals and celebrity close-ups to behind-the-scenes moments and fashion details, IMAGO offers fully licensed editorial photography from every edition of the Met Gala, ready for use by media outlets, publishers, and content creators worldwide.
Whether you need a single image for an article or a large volume of visuals for multi-channel publishing, IMAGO's Met Gala collections are available for immediate licensing. All images come cleared for editorial use only, with flexible options tailored to your team's workflow and publishing volume.
If you work in media, publishing, or content creation and need reliable, high-quality access to fashion event photography beyond the Met Gala, like the Oscars, Cannes to Fashion Weeks or even royal events, visit the IMAGO Entertainment page to discover the full scope of what's available. Our team of dedicated account managers is ready to help you find the right licensing package for your needs. Get in touch with a sales representative today and let us build a solution tailored to your publication.
