Red Carpet
Met Gala 2026: Top 10 Best Looks
Written by Laiba Sheraz
Met Gala 2026, ranked. Ten looks that earned the steps and one that proves the theme has finally caught up with the carpet.
The dress that wins this year’s ranking was made of film.
Up close, under the carpet lights, Sabrina Carpenter’s gown shimmered like the inside of an old projector. It had been built by Dior from rows of celluloid pulled from the 1954 Audrey Hepburn picture, Sabrina, for which she shares her name. Costume Art; the dress code, Fashion Is Art: Carpenter wore the brief and walked into the Met before the rest of the carpet had finished its first pose.
The exhibition asked one question: where the dressed body sits inside art history? A meaningful number of guests answered it. A meaningful number did not. The list below favours the ones who did.
THE TOP TEN
Sabrina Carpenter, Dior. The most theme-faithful look on the carpet, and the most fun a Met dress has been in years.
Beyoncé, Olivier Rousteing. A return worthy of the absence. Beyoncé arrived in a glittering skeletal gown that transformed anatomy into couture, each rhinestone catching the light like shattered crystal beneath the museum steps. Rousteing leaned fully into the idea of the body as art object: sculptural, dramatic, almost mythic. A metallic headpiece sharpened the look into something ceremonial, while the sweeping ombré ostrich-feather cape faded from silver into charcoal like smoke trailing behind her. Even beside Jay-Z and Blue Ivy on her Met debut, the eye kept returning to Beyoncé.
Tyla, custom Valentino. Tyla's 2026 Met Gala look ranks as one of the night's most striking moments. Her custom Maison Valentino design featured a sheer top made of draped diamond chains and a turquoise drop-waist skirt with a high slit, paired with glowing body shimmer, wet curls, and intricate "embellished feather" nails. Bold, jewel-encrusted, and effortlessly cohesive, her look easily lands in the upper tier of best-dressed, proving she once again knows exactly how to command a red carpet.
Kim Kardashian's 2026 Met Gala look ranks as one of the most conversation-starting moments of the night, she wore a sculpted orange fiberglass "Body Armor" breastplate originally created by British artist Allen Jones in the late 1960s, repurposed into a bodysuit and paired with a leather half-skirt by Whitaker Malem (with Jones himself hand-painting the orange strokes). The avant-garde, fully art-rooted concept genuinely embodied the "Fashion Is Art" theme, landing her firmly in the upper tier of best-dressed for sheer originality and theme commitment, even if its rigid, body-cast silhouette divided opinion online.
Zoë Kravitz, Saint Laurent. Anthony Vaccarello in a Victorian pannier under modern see-through lace, one century citing another in a single garment. The most architecturally clever look of the night.
Rihanna, Maison Margiela. Rihanna's 2026 Met Gala look ranks right at the very top of the night's best-dressed. Woven from duchesse satin with recycled metal threads and a corseted bodice embellished with over 115,000 crystal beads, jewels, and chains, requiring around 1,380 hours of embroidery. Paired with a slicked-back gold-curled mullet, metallic purple makeup, and Glenn Spiro diamond earrings and crowned by her signature fashionably-late arrival with A$AP Rocky. It was a sculptural, couture-rich showstopper that proved once again she sets the standard for Met Gala iconography.
Emma Chamberlain, Miguel Castro Freitas. Chamberlain wore a custom hand-painted Mugler gown that turned the body into a canvas, its brushstroke detailing evoking the language of fine art painting rather than referencing any single work. The effect felt rooted in expressionist traditions, gestural, layered, and deliberately unfinished in a way that read as intentional rather than decorative. It stood out as one of the night’s most considered interpretations of the theme.
Karan Johar, Manish Malhotra. KJo made his Met Gala debut in 2026 in a custom ensemble titled "Framed in Eternity," inspired by the legendary Indian painter Raja Ravi Varma. The look featured a dramatic cape combining vintage zardozi three-dimensional embroidery and hand-painted gold work, taking around 5,800 hours and 86 days to complete. He completed the afterparty look with Maharaja-inspired jewellery, fully leaning into the "Fashion Is Art" theme. His debut was a triumphant, theme-nailing showstopper, a love letter to Indian craftsmanship that earned him a firm spot among the night's most memorable best-dressed moments.
Kendall Jenner: Her look ranks as a thoroughly editorial moment, a custom Zac Posen for GapStudio gown sculpted from a humble white Gap t-shirt, draped to mimic the "wet drapery" of the Winged Victory of Samothrace, complete with faux nipple detailing and a surprise reveal of massive angel wings inside the gala. Conceptually clever and beautifully executed, it lands her firmly in the top tier of best-dressed for the night.
. Georgina Rodríguez: Her look ranks as one of the most quietly powerful of the evening a custom pale-blue Ludovic de Saint Sernin gown with French lace cups, hand-painted lacing, hidden Spanish prayer embroidery near her heart, and a long sheer veil, inspired by her devotion to the Virgin of Fátima. Paired with soft Patrick Ta glam, Chopard jewels, and a custom rosary, it was an intimate, deeply personal interpretation of "Fashion Is Art" that earned her a solid best-dressed spot, even if its restrained tone made it a slower burn than the night's louder showstoppers.
