Met Gala 2026: "Fashion is Art" and the carpet Asia dominated
- CZMOS Redazione
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
The first Monday of May is back. And this year, more than before, the Met Gala said something precise about where the cultural axis of global fashion is moving.
The Met Gala 2026 took place on May 5 in New York, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, with the theme Costume Art and the dress code Fashion is Art.
The Costume Institute exhibition at the heart of the event explores the relationship between the dressed body and artistic representations across the centuries: not fashion as decoration, but as embodied art form.
The result on the carpet was, in some cases, extraordinary. In others, predictable. But there's a thread worth following: the culturally densest proposals of the evening came from Asia.
The red carpet as manifesto
Before the clothes, one structural detail is worth noting. The Met Gala 2026 carpet was made by the Indian brand Neytt by Extraweave, with around 500 artisans working for ninety days. Asian craftsmanship was literally under the feet of everyone climbing the museum steps. It's not a curiosity. It's the starting point for reading the whole evening.
BLACKPINK complete: four interpretations of the theme
For the first time, all four BLACKPINK members attended the Met Gala in the same year, invited separately, as muses of their respective brand affiliations. That distinction matters: not a group appearance, but four separate editorial positionings.
Lisa wore a custom Robert Wun dress featuring three-dimensional replicas of her own arms holding a long Swarovski crystal-studded veil. The body as a sculpture that duplicates and displays itself: it's hard to imagine a more precise response to the evening's theme.
Rosé chose a black Anthony Vaccarello dress for Saint Laurent, with a crystal bird sewn onto the bodice. Not a decorative detail: the motif takes direct inspiration from a Georges Braque painting on the ceiling of the Louvre. An explicit art-historical citation, executed with understatement.
Jisoo made her absolute Met Gala debut in a custom Dior designed by Jonathan Anderson, drapery falling like petals, with archive Cartier jewelry completing the look.
Jennie returned with Chanel in an ice-blue column dress built from fifteen thousand hand-sewn metallic sequin leaves. "I feel like a mosaic coming to life," she said on the carpet.
Aespa: the reinterpreted hanbok and the black swan
Karina and Ningning of aespa brought two opposite and complementary readings of the theme. Karina wore a Prada dress whose silhouette draws inspiration from the hanbok, the traditional Korean garment, not as a folkloric citation, but as a structural base reworked in a contemporary direction. Ningning chose a custom Gucci with volumes built around the image of the black swan: theatrical, precise, recognizable.
The debuts: KUN, Ahn Hyo-seop, EJAE, Audrey Nuna
The Met Gala 2026 saw several significant debuts in the Asian landscape.
Ahn Hyo-seop, known globally for the KPop Demon Hunters project, made a small piece of history: he's the first Korean actor to attend the Met Gala in eleven years. On the carpet in custom Valentino, a jacket with white and gold sequin embroidery, red silk scarf, gold-studded shoes, he completed what he himself called a kind of "global triple crown," after the Tonight Show and the Oscars red carpet. On the dress code theme he said: "When you stop trying to impress, the real art form becomes something honest."
KUN, Chinese singer and rapper among the most significant of his generation, arrived with a look reflecting the aesthetic of his 2026 album, built around the single Deadman, between dark references and sartorial craftsmanship.
EJAE and Audrey Nuna, both known for HUNTR/X, walked the carpet in a Swarovski crystal dress and a Robert Wun dress respectively, presences that signal a widening of the perimeter of Asian stars recognized at an international level.
Why the Met Gala 2026 is a signal
It's not rhetoric to say Asia dominated the Met Gala 2026. It's a reading of the data: the carpet was Asian, the most discussed looks were Asian, the most significant debuts were Asian. Jennie, Lisa, Rosé, Jisoo were not there as representatives of an emerging scene. They were there as established partners of the most important maisons in the world.
What the Met Gala 2026 confirms, if there was still any doubt, is that the dialogue between the Western fashion industry and Asian stars is no longer one-sided. It's a conversation where both sides bring something.
What is the theme of the Met Gala 2026?
The theme of the Met Gala 2026 is Costume Art, with the dress code Fashion is Art. The Costume Institute exhibition explores the relationship between body, art, and fashion across the centuries.
Which Asian stars attended the Met Gala 2026?
All four BLACKPINK members (Lisa, Rosé, Jisoo, Jennie), Karina and Ningning of aespa, Ahn Hyo-seop, KUN, EJAE, and Audrey Nuna were among those present, among others.
What did Lisa wear to the Met Gala 2026?
Lisa wore a custom Robert Wun dress featuring three-dimensional replicas of her own arms and a Swarovski crystal veil.
Who made the Met Gala 2026 carpet?
The carpet was made by the Indian brand Neytt by Extraweave, with around 500 artisans working for ninety days.
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