Lindsey Vonn returned to the Met Gala on Monday night in a beaded white mermaid gown with a large tulle trim, stepping back onto the event’s stairs after more than a decade away. The 41-year-old was supported by a black and gold walking cane as she made the 2026 appearance.
Vonn said she felt beautiful in the dress and noted that the garment took 4,000 hours to make. “There’s a lot of moments where I didn't know where I would be or where I would get to, and getting to this place is really special. So I'm very thankful,” she said.
The appearance carried extra weight because it came just months after a crash at the Milano Cortina Olympics earlier in the year that led to multiple leg surgeries. Vonn, who suffered a broken left tibia in February, has said she nearly needed an amputation because of compression syndrome. She also told Today on April 7 that she is not ruling out a return to the slopes, saying she never got a final run and never got to say goodbye, which leaves “a door slightly open.”
The Met Gala was not new territory for Vonn, but the gap made this return stand out. She last attended in 2013, when she went with Tiger Woods, and she also appeared at the event in 2010, when the gala was centered on the fashion of American women.
What makes this night matter is simple: Vonn was back on her feet in public, at one of fashion’s biggest stages, a few months after a crash that could have ended far more badly. That is why the dress got attention, but the comeback got the story.