Met Gala 2026: Fashion's Biggest Night Meets Its Biggest Controversy

The Event
The 2026 Met Gala was held on May 4 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, with "Costume Art" as its main theme and "Fashion Is Art" as the dress code. The event reportedly raised a record $42 million, with individual tickets reportedly costing $100,000.

Anna Wintour, Met Gala chair and global editorial director of Vogue, enlisted Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams to serve as the evening's co-chairs.

The Bezos Controversy
The messages besmirching the wealthiest billionaire in the country began appearing in April across New York as guerrilla subway advertisements urging a boycott of the 2026 Met Gala. One read: "The Bezos Met Gala: Brought to You by the Company that Powers ICE," alluding to Amazon's cloud computing contract with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which under the Trump administration has brought detentions up by over 75 percent in one year.

Anna Wintour is said to have received at least $10 million from Bezos, and there have been rumors swirling regarding Bezos reportedly seeking to buy Condé Nast, the parent company of Vogue, which oversees the gala.

Stars Who Boycotted
Zendaya, Meryl Streep, and Taraji P. Henson refused invitations, while Bella Hadid also sat out in protest, publicly liking an Instagram post criticizing celebrities who attended. Their absence sent shockwaves through the fashion and entertainment industries.

The "Ball Without Billionaires"

A counter-event called the "Ball Without Billionaires" took the form of an outdoor runway show in Manhattan's Meatpacking District, featuring looks from up-and-coming designers and activists combating Amazon's policies from the inside. Actor and comedian Lisa Ann Walter, a SAG-AFTRA vice president, emceed the event.

Inside: A Protest of a Different Kind
Sarah Paulson wore a dollar-bill blindfold to the gala, designed by Matières Fécales and called "Blinded by Money." The designer wrote on Instagram that "The collection was a reflection of the greed and corruption that comes with extreme power." The bold statement sparked immediate backlash over perceived hypocrisy, given the $100,000 ticket price.

Star Looks That Made Headlines
Sabrina Carpenter dazzled in a dress made of literal film strips. Bad Bunny aged himself "53 years" into the future with prosthetics and grey hair. Katy Perry hid her entire face behind a chrome mask. Blake Lively arrived just hours after settling her explosive legal battle. And Beyoncé broke her 10-year Met Gala hiatus thanks to her co-chair role, while Rihanna as tradition dictates closed out the red carpet.

The 2026 Met Gala was less a celebration of fashion-as-usual and more a mirror held up to the tensions of the moment wealth, power, protest, and spectacle colliding on the steps of one of the world's most storied institutions.

Mustapha Bature Sallama.
Medical/ Science Communicator,
Private Investigator, Criminal investigation and Intelligence Analysis.

International Conflict Management and Peace Building.USIP

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