The first Monday in May will soon be upon us, which means that it's officially time for the Met Gala 2026... which could be the most divisive yet. 

Held at the world-renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the biggest night in fashion will see A-list celebrities pose up a storm in high couture on the venue's iconic steps.

This year's event will mark the first since Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour stepped down from her position at the magazine after 37 years, though she remains very much at the front and center of proceedings. 

Controversially, this Met Gala will also welcome Amazon founder and tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez as honorary co-chairs and lead sponsors. 

Their involvement appears to have cast somewhat of a shadow over what is known as the Oscars of fashion, with an insider claiming that at least one high-profile celebrity pulled out of Met Gala programming in defiance.  

And if that wasn't enough, in the run up to the bash, protest posters were pasted just a stone's throw from the venue that read, 'Boycott the Bezos Met Gala.'

But the pomp and circumstance will seemingly still go on. 

From the red carpet to red hot musical performances, here the Daily Mail takes a closer look at the evening's schedule and pulls back the curtains on what goes on inside the exclusive event. 

Theme and dress code for Met Gala 2026

The Met Museum and Vogue announced that 'Costume Art' will be the theme of this year's exhibition at the Costume Institute. 

Meanwhile, 'Fashion is Art' will serve as the dress code for the world famous spectacle.

The New York City museum will pair historical and contemporary garments from the Costume Institute for the exhibition, which will be loosely divided into three categories: the classical body and the nude body, aging bodies and pregnant bodies, and the anatomical body.

The annual spring exhibition will be displayed in the new Condé M. Nast Galleries.

'What connects every curatorial department and what connects every single gallery in the museum is fashion, or the dressed body,' the curator in charge of the Costume Institute, Andrew Bolton, said. 

'It's the common thread throughout the whole museum, which is really what the initial idea for the exhibition was.'

The star-studded Met Gala 2026 guest list includes members of the host committee, such as Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Misty Copeland, Lena Dunham, Angela Bassett, Sam Smith and Chase Sui Wonders.

Red carpet hosts

The Met Gala red carpet livestream will begin at 6pm eastern time and will be available to watch on Vogue's digital platforms, as well as on YouTube and TikTok.

The livestream will be hosted by Ashley Graham, La La Anthony and Cara Delevingne, while Emma Chamberlain will be back as red carpet correspondent.

Usually, the co-chairs are the first to arrive and have in the past arrived well before the stream starts. 

This year's event is co-chaired by Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams and Wintour.

Last year, Rihanna famously turned up to the carpet at 10pm, long after first arrivals. 

It's long been reported that most guests aren't allowed to bring their personal publicists on their red carpet with them or inside the venue.

Without their publicists to help them navigate interviews, photo ops and wardrobe malfunctions, celebrities are left to fend for themselves, which can add to the stress of the night.

Dining etiquette and banned ingredients 

Guests sit in assigned seating for a formal dinner after the cocktail hour. Dinner typically begins after 8pm in the Temple of Dendur.

Wintour signs off on every single guest, including those invited by designers who buy tables. She approves every detail, including the seating charts, and has been known to ban certain celebrities. 

It was previously revealed that Wintour takes great care in choosing the menu for the Met Gala, and she is quick to veto any foods that are hard to eat or smelly.

In the 2016 documentary, titled The First Monday in May, one former Vogue employee spoke of the vast number of demands she placed on the organizers the year before.

She banned parsley from being served at the party 'because you don't want that stuck in your teeth.'

Dishes were also to be prepared without onion and garlic, which give bad breath.

Appetizers like bruschetta were also off the menu for fear of the difficult-to-eat dish landing on someone's dress.

Chef Kwame Onwuachi was the brains behind last year's menu, and he reflected the Met Gala's then-theme of Superfine: Tailoring Black Style into every dish.

At cocktail hour, silver platters of hoecakes with crispy chicken, mini chopped cheeses, cornbread topped with caviar and curry chicken patties were passed around.

For dinner, the first course consisted of a papaya piri-piri salad and cucumbers in a Caribbean marinade.

The main featured Creole roasted chicken with lemon emulsion, rice and peas, and a fresh hot sauce, with side plates of BBQ collard greens with bacon and cornbread.

Dessert included golden cake with honey sweet cream and blistered gooseberry and a brownie.

Star-studded performances  

It's expected that there will be musical performances throughout the evening, although the lineup currently remains under wraps. 

Last year's Met Gala was stacked with musical acts and even saw a 20-person choir serenade guests as they arrived on the red carpet. 

Later in the night, guests watched Usher and Stevie Wonder take to the stage.

In previous years, Ariana Grande and Cynthia Erivo performed a musical number in 2023 while the likes of Lenny Kravitz, Katy Perry, Kacey Musgraves and Madonna have also enjoyed sets. 

Strict secret rules

Guests must follow a strict set of guidelines while attending the exclusive soirée, though there have been plenty of rule breakers over the years.

Attendees must abide by a no-phone policy once they've entered the museum. 

In theory, this means no photographs or posting on social media, but this has been broken numerous times.

In recent years, the Met Gala bathroom selfie has become somewhat of a popular move, with Kendall Jenner's famous group photo with the likes of Paris Jackson and Kim Kardashian, sending social media wild in 2017.

The ban on phones was implemented by 'traditionalist' Wintour as a way of encouraging guests to engage in meaningful conversation.

'She likes a dinner party where people are actually speaking to each other,' former Met Gala planner Sylvana Durrett explained in The First Monday in May.

Durrett admitted that staffers will even go as far as checking on people's cell phone usage throughout the night.

'We aren't sitting over people's shoulders, but if it's an obvious thing we might gently remind them,' she said.