Met Gala theme for this year revealed as ‘Fashion is Art’

The theme of this year’s Met Gala – widely seen as one of the biggest events in fashion – has been revealed as “Fashion is Art”.

The event, which takes place on the first Monday each May to raise money for the Metropolitan Museum Of Art in New York, will be co-chaired by Beyonce, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, a spokesman for the museum said.

Each year, former Vogue editor Wintour handpicks a group of celebrities to  help launch the museum’s latest exhibition, with stars including Zoe Kravitz, Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat and Teyana Taylor also named.

The annual event attracts the biggest names in music, film, TV and fashion, and celebrates the opening of the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition at the New York museum.

This year’s Met Gala will be held on May 4, while its spring exhibition, Costume Art, will be on view from May 10.

The spokesman said the dress code invites “guests to express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form and celebrate the countless depictions of the dressed body throughout art history”.

The proceeds from the gala provide the Costume Institute with its primary source of annual funding.

Costume Art will mark the opening of The Met’s new, nearly 12,000-square-foot galleries adjacent to the Great Hall.

The Met’s chief executive officer, Max Hollein, said: “Costume Art will present a dynamic and scholarly conversation between garments from the Costume Institute and an array of artworks from across The Met’s collection, elevating universal and timeless themes while bringing forward new ideas and ways of seeing.

“This immensely creative and collaborative show will demonstrate the museum’s innovative and forward-thinking approach to presenting Costume Institute exhibitions and will highlight The Met’s unique ability to position fashion within the context of more than 5,000 years of art represented in its collection.

“We are thrilled to announce such an esteemed group of co-chairs and members of the host committee, and further we are deeply grateful to all our donors for their remarkable generosity to create these new, grand public galleries.”