These Were The Worst-Dressed Celebs At The 2026 Met Gala

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Just as we finished taking a walk down memory lane to peruse the most memorable Met Gala looks that have entered the fashion hall of fame, the first Monday in May was upon us. Also known as fashion's biggest night of the year, celebs and fashion cognoscenti descended upon New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art for its annual fundraising gala on May 4, 2026. As you know, this isn't any gala. The event, which raised $31 million for the Costume Institute last year, has a lot of specifics to it, such as who is chosen as a co-chair, who is invited, and who sits where. But mostly, we all tune in for the fashion.

Guests are encouraged to follow the theme of the night, and if not, may end up on the list of the most inappropriate outfits in Met Gala history. The 2026 theme was "Fashion Is Art" and its correlation to the body, corresponding with the "Costume Art" exhibit theme. Designers (and their clients) interpreted the theme however their creative minds desired, and while some of the final looks were divine, others left us wanting something more — or something altogether different. 

Who didn't fully deliver in 2026? There were sadly a few beauties who have wowed us in the past with their fashion prowess, like Lena Dunham and Lauren Sánchez Bezos, but failed to impress this year.

Will her 2026 Met Gala look land on Lauren Sánchez Bezos' most inappropriate outfits list? No. She looks nice. And that concludes the compliments portion of our coverage. The look is just so her. It's a pretty gown that her cleavage is exploding out of, that's tailored within a millimeter of its life, with ruching placed at all the crucial places. It's predictable, contrived, and frankly, a bit boring. We'd love to have seen her step out of her comfort zone and take a daring turn on the red carpet, especially as an honorary chair of the event.

Lena Dunham's Met Gala outfit made us want to reach through the screen and push the feathers away so we could see who was actually wearing this dress. The "Famesick" writer was on-trend with the bird homage, as feathers are all over red carpets right now (and here's how to wear them), but this is one example where the dress is definitely wearing the wearer. If she wanted to stick with feathers, wearing them away from the face would've been a first step in improving this red abomination.

While we applaud French influencer Lena Mahfouf for going all-in on the "Fashion Is Art" dress code, she took a step too far in with this look. For the '26 Met Gala, she wore a pair of sculptural hands as a top, pairing them with a Burc Akyol skirt that was draped from the waist leaving the sides of her hips bare. Even without a photo as evidence, you can imagine that this showed a lot of skin, and felt a bit distracting. If the skirt had sat up at the waistline rather than draped down the sides, it would've made a more compelling statement, rather than an overly provocative one.

Some people think tripe, which is usually from a cow's stomach but can be another digestive organ from a ruminant like a sheep, is beautiful with its texture and pattern. What does that have to do with the Met Gala? Well, it looked like Ashley Graham's custom Di Petsa gown may have been inspired by offal. The model confirmed on Instagram that it was meant to look like serpent skin. Her fans lauded the look, but it made our stomachs slightly queasy. And the color, which was a near match to Graham's skin, felt a bit flat for the occasion.

Mixing patterns and prints can definitely work, but there needs to be cohesion, which is what Nicole Phelps' Met Gala 2026 look lacked. The black print of the top didn't work with the pale-green apples in the skirt. Vogue's global fashion news and features director's shoes were the nail in the outfit coffin: The print and heaviness clashed with the lightness of the skirt, rather than adding a supporting element that could've helped tie the discord between the top and the skirt together.

Talented and well-renowned artist Amy Sherald is another 2026 Met Gala attendee whose outfit initially had us puzzled as to how it worked with the theme. It turns out her Thom Browne dress was a recreation of her 2013 painting "Miss Everything (Unsuppressed Deliverance)." While we appreciate how literally she took the dress code, the red pom-pom hat and dachshund-shaped purse gave the 'fit a child-like vibe that didn't deliver for this prestigious event.