New York’s Metropolitan Museum announced it will expand by merging with the nearby Neue Galerie, with an Estee Lauder heir transferring the gallery to the Met. The move represents the museum’s most significant expansion in recent years.

The 2026 Met Gala is about to begin in New York. Dubbed the Super Bowl of fashion, this year’s event carries the theme Fashion Is Art, with roughly 450 A-list guests expected to attend. Beyonce’s return as co-chair for the first time since 2016 is one of the biggest storylines of the night.

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Beyonce, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams serve as this year’s co-chairs, with the dress code set as Fashion Is Art. The gala formally opens the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute spring exhibition, which will feature 400 outfits and objects spanning 5,000 years of history, running until January 2027.

Guests are invited to explore their relationship with fashion as an embodied art form and celebrate depictions of the dressed body throughout art history. Vogue has predicted that Baroque, Impressionist, or Renaissance-inspired looks could appear on the red carpet, with some stars possibly referencing specific classic paintings directly.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez Bezos are also listed as co-chairs and sponsors of this year’s event. The host committee includes Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Teyana Taylor, Lisa from Blackpink, Elizabeth Debicki, and Lena Dunham, under the leadership of Anthony Vaccarello and Zoe Kravitz.

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Bezos’s sponsorship has triggered calls for boycott from some quarters, with protest posters addressing labor rights and other issues appearing near the New York museum. Meanwhile, the Costume Institute exhibition serves as the department’s primary funding source, providing crucial financial support for museum operations each year.

Anna Wintour, the long-time chair of the Met Gala, continues to control the guest list and stylistic direction of the world’s most influential fashion social event.

Source: BBC News