Met Gala 2026: Costume Art
The Met Gala has never exactly been known for understatement, but 2026 gave the spectacle a particularly useful brief. With the theme Costume Art and the dress code “Fashion Is Art”, the carpet became a study in bodies as moving canvases: sculpted, framed, exaggerated, disguised and displayed. For dance audiences, of course, this is familiar territory. Ballet has spent centuries turning the body into line, symbol, character and ornament, using costume not simply to dress the dancer but to shape how we read them. So when this year’s guests arrived in feathered armour, velvet columns, botanical constructions and courtly brocade, the comparisons were impossible to resist.
The runway may have had the cameras, but the stage got there first.
1. Beyonce / West Australian Ballet ‘Slow Haunt’
Is this not the very definition of Danse Macabre?
2. Nicole Phelps | The Australian Ballet ‘The Merry Widow’
Hands down it's Bumble Bee lady for me (does her character have a name? I'm going to investigate this). She's the sort of pushy mother you hate to love, but you know she'll get you places. Nicole doesn't quite get you there- it's the awkward length of the skirt.
3. Karan Johar | West Australian Ballet ‘Don Quixote’
So jaunty. Brocade is timeless. Not so sure about Gamache's shoes though..
4. Lauren Wasser | The Australian Ballet ‘Nijinsky’
GOLD. No notes for both.
5. Madonna | West Australian Ballet ‘The Sleeping Beauty’
What a choice. The fact that we have a picture of a boat headpiece ready to go for this exact occasion. Obviously you cant beat Madonna for fashionable theatricality, but hat's off (lol) to West Australian Ballet for being ahead of the trend on this one.
6. Colman Domingo | The Australian Ballet ‘Harlequinade’
Colman wins this one, but only just. It's the military pants - like he can be fun AND in control.
7. Janelle Monáe | The Australian Ballet ‘Flora’
Janelle is giving surrealist botanist, Flora is a song line still going. Both understand that sometimes the body is simply the support structure for a very determined flower.
8. Natasha Poonawalla | | West Australian Ballet ‘Paper Moon’
Natasha looks like she has been genetically engineered from an orchid, a chandelier and a very expensive hotel lobby. Paper Moon keeps it softer, but the sculptural petal energy is absolutely shared.
9. Sombr | The Australian Ballet ‘Swan Lake’
Spiritual twins. Imperious and edgy and fabulous. They both look like they are devising evil plots, and I wholehartedly support them both. I'd die for a well dressed schemer.
10. Y-Chi Lyra Kuo | West Australian Ballet ‘Swan Lake’
White feathers can go bridal very quickly, but both of these dodge it. This is swan as spectacle, swan as status symbol, swan as “yes, I will be needing the full width of the staircase”. I do have to wonder how the actual swan population feels about donating so many feathers?
11. Keke Palmer | The Australian Ballet ‘Marguerite and Armand’
Keke is confidence, Valerie Tereschenko as Marguerite is beautiful tragedy.
12. Finn Wolfhard | The Royal Ballet ‘Marguerite and Armand’
It's hard to make white pants work, but these guys do it well.
13. Charlotte Effron | The Australian Ballet ‘Nijinsky’
Amber Scott <3
14. Nicole Kidman | The Australian Ballet ‘Nijinsky’
This costume (Romola Nijinska) gets a second entry, this time on Grace Carroll, because I think the lush vibe of this outfit really does match the energy of NK. They are both stars.
15. Bad Bunny | West Australian Ballet ‘Don Quixote’
Love to see a young guy cosplaying as an old dude, but if we're judging the outfits- Don Q has the style. He's bold, he doesn't care what anyone thinks.
16. Serena Williams | The Australian Ballet ‘Sylvia’
I was lowkey obsessed with this image of Lana when Stanton Welch's Sylvia came to Australia, and I love the goddess vibes Serena is bringing today. Serena gets the points for the gold footwear, but Lana has a bow so... it's a tie for me.
17. Daisy Edgar-Jones | The Australian Ballet ‘Margeurite and Armand’
White lace and a slightly haunted expression. Classic Dame aux Camelias. Daisy’s is the Met Gala version: less consumption, more custom couture.
18. Robert Denning | The Australian Ballet ‘Margeurite and Armand’
A cane, a tailcoat and a crisp white shirt. Sometimes menswear only needs three elements to suggest money, melancholy and a terrible romantic decision.
19. Hailey Beiber | The Australian Ballet ‘Sylvia’
Sculpted body armour is really having a moment. Both Goddesses <3
20. Joe Burrow | The Australian Ballet ‘Anna Karenina’
Joe Burrow and Adam Bull even LOOK similar. Full marks to both.
21. Kim Kardashian | Queensland Ballet ‘Hamlet’
High visibility, high drama, and absolutely not here to comfort anyone.
22. Ahn Hyo-Seop | The Australian Ballet ‘Oscar’
The shape is clean, the palette is controlled, and the whole thing has that Oscar Wilde-adjacent neatness: beautifully dressed, slightly withholding, and probably armed with a better line than anyone else in the room.
23. Joe Alwyn | The Australian Ballet ‘Anna Karenina’
Joe Alwyn is giving real Eastern European farm vibes, but with money.
24. Irina Shayk | Sydney Dance Company ‘Tivoli’
A showgirl number will never not be on my best dressed list. I love the long skirt on Irina, but it needs a little extra theatre. Tivoli knows that if you’re going to do sparkle, you may as well commit.
25. Rami Malek | West Australian Ballet 'Dracula'
The drama, the fur, the cheekbones. I stan both. In terms of matched energy, this might top my list.
26. Kris Jenner | West Australian Ballet ‘La Bayadere’
Look I didn't go out searching for this one. My dude in the background of WAB's La Bayadere just jumped out at me. Twinning with KJ, giving off real main character energy.
Comments by Olivia Weeks
Curated by Olivia Weeks, Stephanie McKenna, Jaide Coleman.
With thanks to The West Australian Ballet and The Australian Ballet for supplying imagery.