NEW YORK — Beyoncé returned to the Met Gala on Monday night, co-hosting the 2026 fundraiser in New York City for the first time in a decade. She was joined on the host committee by Venus Williams, Nicole Kidman and Anna Wintour as the event opened under the dress code Fashion is Art.
The Met Gala, fashion’s biggest night in New York City, is tied to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s spring costume exhibition, and this year’s version arrived with a familiar mix of spectacle and scrutiny. Activists were protesting billionaire Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s involvement as a sponsor, even as Lauren Sánchez Bezos served as one of the co-chairs and Williams was listed as another.
The red carpet quickly turned into a gallery of its own. Sam Smith arrived in a flowing black gown with a striking black feather fascinator, Charli XCX wore an embroidered black dress, and Naomi Osaka appeared in an extravagant white hat with red accents. Rebecca Hall and Morgan Spector also appeared, while Chase Sui Wonders wore a pale lavender dress with diamonds.
Elsewhere on the carpet, Sergey Brin posed with his partner Gerelyn Gilbert-Soto, Amy Sherald carried a Dachshund-shaped handbag and Sinéad Burke was present at the event. The former tennis star arrived with her husband Andrea Preti, adding to a guest list built for headlines as much as the museum benefit it supports.
Beyoncé’s return is the evening’s defining detail because it closes a ten-year gap at fashion’s most watched fundraiser and places her back at the center of a night that thrives on absence as much as appearance. The sharper question is whether the glamour can outrun the protest outside, or whether Jeff Bezos’s role will shadow the gala even after the flashbulbs fade.