Met Gala Raises $42 Million for the Costume Institute as “Costume Art” Nears Opening
The Met Gala’s cultural reach may be global, but its financial purpose remains firmly institutional: the 2026 edition raised $42 million for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, Met director Max Hollien said Monday. That total marks a sharp increase from last year’s $31 million and confirms the gala’s place as one of the museum’s most lucrative annual fundraisers.
This year’s honorary chairs were Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, a selection that drew protests in the lead-up to the event. The couple were reported to have contributed $10 million to the gala. The evening’s dress code, “Fashion is Art,” set a broad frame for a night that leaned into the long-running conversation between clothing, performance, and museum culture.
The Costume Institute’s spring exhibition, “Costume Art,” opens to the public on May 10. Before that, the gala once again served as a high-wattage preview, with Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour among the co-chairs. The host committee also included artists Anna Weyant, Tschabalala Self, and Amy Sherald, a reminder that the event’s relationship to the art world is not merely symbolic.
The red carpet brought its expected mix of musicians, actors, athletes, and artists. Among those appearing on the Met steps were Stevie Nicks, Bad Bunny, Sabrina Carpenter, Anne Hathaway, Katy Perry, SZA, Doechii, Janelle Monáe, Naomi Osaka, and Jordan Roth.
For all the attention paid to the spectacle, the evening’s most consequential detail may be the simplest one: the gala continues to translate celebrity into support for the museum’s fashion program, and this year it did so at a notably higher level than before.
