ShareSaveAdd as preferred on GoogleSteven McIntoshEntertainment reporterGetty ImagesBeyoncé has not attended the Met Gala since 2016 (pictured) but is returning this year as one of the event's co-chairsThe dresses have been sewn, the jewellery has been polished and New York's hairdressers and make-up artists have been fully booked ahead of the Met Gala 2026.
Around 450 A-list guests will begin arriving later for fashion's biggest night of the year, which raises money for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.
Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams are the co-chairs for this year's gala, which has the dress code: "Fashion is art."
Here's everything you need to know about this year's Super Bowl of fashion.
This year's theme is Costume Art, named after the museum's new exhibition, which will see 400 outfits and objects spanning 5,000 years go on display.
The dress code for the gala is Fashion Is Art, with guests invited to explore their relationship to fashion as an embodied art form and celebrate depictions of the dressed body throughout art history.
Some stars might reference famous artistic movements and styles from over the centuries, as Vogue pointed out with their helpful round-up of some runway looks that could appear on the night.
Outfits referencing the Baroque, Impressionist or Renaissance movements could show up, and there might even be direct references to specific individual paintings.
But, as is often the case with the Met Gala, the theme is suitably wide that it could be interpreted in countless ways, so we can expect to see a wide variety of looks on the red carpet.
Met Gala chair Anna Wintour has enlisted Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams to serve as the evening's co-chairs this year.
It will mark Beyoncé's first Met Gala since 2016, when she attended wearing a futuristic outfit for the event's memorable technology-themed year.
Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Teyana Taylor, Lisa from Blackpink, Elizabeth Debicki and Lena Dunham are among the members of this year's host committee, which is headed up by Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz.
The event formally opens the Costume Institute's spring exhibition, which serves as the department's primary source of funding and runs until January 2027.
As is tradition, the Met Gala is taking place on the first Monday in May, with guests arriving from about 18:00 EST (23:00 BST).
The guest list isn't published in advance, but you can expect to see a huge number of A-listers on the night.
The public don't get to see inside the event itself, where the guests are treated to dinner, cocktails, live music and a look around the museum's new exhibition.
But despite the exclusivity of the event and the strict no-selfie rule inside, the lengthy red carpet event beforehand ensures acres of media coverage.
Publicity for other events is also often built around the Met Gala. It's no coincidence, for example, that this past weekend was chosen to release The Devil Wears Prada 2.
The beloved original film, which affectionately parodied the fashion industry two decades ago, was loosely based on Met Gala chair Anna Wintour's time as editor of Vogue.
Look back on previous Met Galas:
Note: There was no Met Gala in 2020 due to Covid.
Vogue will once again host the livestream from the red carpet.
Ashley Graham, Cara Delevigne, and La La Anthony will host this year's coverage, with Emma Chamberlain returning as the magazine's red carpet correspondent.
The stream will be broadcast live across Vogue's digital platforms, as well as on YouTube and TikTok.
But countless news outlets will be live streaming their own coverage on social media platforms such as Instagram and TikTok.
The BBC News website will covering the event, with a a live page running while celebrities are arriving on the red carpet.
The Met Gala is a relatively small event, only open to a small number of invited guests - usually around 450.
Tables cost upwards of around $350,000 (£258,000), while individual tickets are reported to go for about $75,000 (£56,000).
Very few celebrities actually pay for their own tickets, however.
They instead receive invitations from fashion brands, many of whom host celebrities as their guests.
If an A-list star wears the brand's clothes and sits at their table, it generates publicity for the company that justifies the price of the table.
But despite picking up the bill, fashion houses still need to run every proposed guest past the queen of fashion herself.
Anna Wintour, chair of the Met Gala since 1995 and head of content at Vogue publisher Condé Nast, personally has to sign off on every invitation.
