Met Gala 2026: the fashion party prepares for a controversial edition

BarcelonaIt's the big annual fashion event, and the outlandish outfits that are very often seen there leave almost no one indifferent. This Monday at 11:30 p.m. (Catalan time), the Met Gala kicks off, the party that brings together celebrities of all kinds at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York to raise funds for the museum's Fashion Institute, and which this year has as its theme Fashion is Art, a common thread linked to the exhibition Costume Art (The Art of Costume), which is held in parallel to the party. It will not be just any edition, because before it is celebrated, it has already had to face various controversies unrelated to fashion.

The main point of conflict for this year's Met Gala is the participation of Jeff Bezos, owner of Amazon, and his wife, Lauren Sanchez, who will be the honorary chairs of the party and the main financiers of the event and the accompanying exhibition. Various activist groups have called for a boycott of the Met Gala, denouncing Amazon's collaboration with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Posters against the Met Gala have appeared on various streets in New York, and on Sunday, the facade of the Empire State Building was illuminated with the message "Boycott Bezos's Met Gala".

Will Zohran Mamdani, mayor of New York, be here?

The new mayor of New York, Zohran Mamdani, and his wife, the artist Rama Duwaji, have declined the invitation to attend the Met Gala. The luxury and extravagance associated with this gala do not align with Mamdani's discourse, who promised to make New York an affordable city. In previous editions, other mayors, such as Michael Bloomberg, Bill de Blasio, and Eric Adams, did attend, although not every year.

Beyoncé and Nicole Kidman, the hosts

The list of guests who will parade down the red carpet of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is always one of the Met Gala's best-kept secrets. There are some names, however, that are confirmed: those of the hosts. This year, in addition to Anna Wintour, the event's driving force, the main hosts are Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Beyoncé, who did not attend last year because she was on the "Cowboy Carter" tour. Other names that are also expected are Zoë Kravitz, Sabrina Carpenter, and Lena Dunham, members of this year's organizing committee.

Lady Gaga; Olivia Rodrigo, who is promoting her new album; Katy Perry, and Anne Hathaway are also expected to walk the carpet, although they are not confirmed.