Introduction
While our initial coverage of the 2026 Met Gala explored the avant-garde boundary between biology and art, the digital post-game belonged to the internet. Once the flashbulbs cooled, social media delivered its own verdict. This lookback post explores to the designs that conquered the algorithm. From Janelle Monáe’s mossy "cyber-nature" gown to Heidi Klum’s viral transformation into living marble, these were the moments that fueled millions of likes and reactions, defining the year's cultural conversation.
Met Gala 2026 Viral Style: The Top 10 that Took Over Social Media, Described
Our first iteration of the Top Ten Met Gala 2026 looks focused on the designs that embraced diversity and/or manipulated the human body by adding to or modifying it in a way that made us see it differently.
Now that a couple days have gone by and social media has had its way, we’re back with a second round of Top Ten looks - this time, focusing on the looks that demanded our attention. These are the designs we’ll remember for their artistry, their interpretation of the theme, and the simple fact that we’re encountering them everywhere.
Janelle Monáe in Christian Siriano, jewelry by Rainbow K
Janelle’s floor-length gown is made up of silvery, concrete-gray, and black wires and cables weaving through patches of moss. The gown’s silhouette has wide shoulders, a fitted bodice that exposes the sides of Janelle’s torso, and a mermaid skirt. The wires and cords are braided, bunched, and woven into sinuous lines that follow Janelle’s contours. Microchips, motherboards, and other computer parts are intertwined among the cords, including a rotary encoder and a round diffuser over the breasts. A ruff of vertical cords ending in ethernet ports flare up her neck and around her face like waves breaking against a rocky cliff. A cluster of cords with their ports and plugs gather at the shoulder over a long sleeve made up of serpentine, intertwined cords running through mossy tufts. The cords curl far past Janelle’s hand, the other arm is bare.
Several white butterflies and two dragonflies, which are all outlined and patterned in black, slowly fan their wings as if they’ve just alighted. One butterfly rests on her forehead near her side part. Her black, cheekbone-length hair curls around her eyes.
Her nails are painted metallic and decorated with specks of moss, tiny metal flowers, an SD card, and other miniscule computer bits. She also wears several silver-toned rings, including one with a pearly white butterfly.
Heidi Klum in Mike Marino
Heidi wore a full-body and full-face costume made of marble-white foam latex and spandex to replicate Raffaelle Monti’s Veiled Vestal, which was carved from Carrara marble in 1847. Heidi and her team replicated the wreath of flowers encircling the head, the delicate veil that lies in gentle folds over the face, and the drapery that wraps around the body and lies lightly across the otherwise bare breasts and belly button. Heidi’s feet are painted white, and she wears Roman-style sandals.
Whereas the original sculpture shows a young woman kneeling, holding a tray the size of a dessert plate on which dances a flame, Heidi poses with her right elbow slightly bent so her hand rests against that hip, and her left hand brushes up gracefully against the front of her left shoulder.
She wears light-colored contact lenses so the pupils are the only dark detail on her face, which is at rest when she poses.
Ciara in Celia Kritharioti, jewelry by Lorraine Schwartz
In gold from head to toe, Ciara’s form-fitting, floor-length gown simmers with countless crystals against champagne-colored, sheer fabric. Ten gold hoops lie across her shoulders and upper arms. All of her jewelry is also gold, including cuff bracelets, several rings, diamond-shaped earrings, and a broad, collar-like choker.
Ciara’s long black hair is slicked up, back, and out in a slightly expanding column like the crown shown on the 3,000-year-old stucco and painted bust of Nefertiti, which inspired Ciara’s look. Ciara’s hair is covered generously in gold leaf except for one straight tendril that lies alongside her face.
When posing, Ciara wore gold-coated sunglasses, and when lit by photographers’ flashes, the outline of her legs were silhouetted through the delicate fabric of her gown.
Kylie Jenner in Schiaparelli
Kylie’s torso is encased in a bodice the exact shade of her skin, and a white gown appears to be pushed down over her hips to create a long train. The nude-colored bodice is sleeveless and anatomically correct, with nipples and a belly button, though it laces up the back to either side of a seam lined with silver grommets.
The corset of the white gown flips forward just below Kylie’s waist as if it’s about to fall off her body, and the boning is visible on the inner surface. The white satin fabric is intricately embroidered with pearls and other beading. The back of the white gown also laces up, though this is undone as it splays open across Kylie’s hips.
Her chunky diamond and pearl necklace comes to the hollow of her throat at the front and dangles down the back of her shoulders. She also wears matching earrings but no rings or bracelets.
Her long black hair falls in gentle curls. Her nails are painted pale pink, and her make-up is done in a natural style except her eyebrows, which have been bleached.
Emma Chamberlain in Miguel Castro Freitas, painted by Anna Deller-Yee, jewelry by Chopard
Emma Chamberlain, Met Gala 2026
Emma’s dress fits tightly from the high collar to long sleeves and a fitted bodice. It skims the hips and flares out in a dramatic mermaid train that pools on the ground. The fabric of the gown matches her skin tone, so swirls of canary yellow, sapphire blue, grassy green, and apple red appear to be painted directly on her body. A swath of yellow crosses from under her left arm, across her chest, down the right side of her torso, where it blends with pale aqua the way to and past that hip. Painted brushstrokes are visible in this area, making it look like wet paint. The strokes transform into ruffles just below the hips, where layers of ruffles multiply until the entire train is dense with pleats and frills. The color also becomes more saturated here with jewel-toned red, green, and yellow before it all deepens into a pool of royal blue around the perimeter. The left side of her torso is stained with earth brown, seaglass green, and sky blue.
On closer inspection, we find frosty white leafy tracery around her neck and above the yellow paint, and the boning of her bodice is visible beneath the skin-colored layer of fabric. Long fringe hanging off the sleeves reaches from the cuffs to the mid-forearms. The fringe is pearl- and ivory-white near the arms and deepens to cobalt blue and indigo at the bottom edges. When Emma holds her arms slightly away from her body, the fringe nearly touches the ground.
Her short, white-blond hair is worn in a choppy style. She wears chandelier earrings with pale yellow stones, and her make-up is done with a smoky eye with gold touches.
Sabrina Carpenter in Dior by Jonathan Anderson, jewelry by Chopard
Sabrina Carpenter, Met Gala 2026
Sabrina’s dress has a halter-style neck, a fitted bodice, and floor-length skirt with a dramatic slit that reaches up to the hip. The bodice is made with strips of film from the black-and-white movie Sabrina, which gives the garment a smoky, silvery color as light glints off the shiny film.
The skirt is sheer black dotted with crystals, and the high slit reveals most of one leg. More strips of film curve down from Sabrina’s hips, where a rosette of looped film sits on her left hip. Strips of film, strands of crystals hanging from near the waist, and the black fabric also make up a short train. When posing for the photographers, Sabrina often stands with elbows bent and arms angled outward so more beaded strands that hang from the back of the halter neck curve down the length of her arms to connect to rings worn on her middle fingers. Yet more film curling in long loops puff out to create a bustle that covers her back side from waist to her upper thighs.
Sabrina’s blond hair is rolled into inward-facing curls around the bottom in a pinup-girl style. A band across her forehead and around her head has three oval film stills set like gems across the center. Rhinestones cascade down to create a fringe like a flapper’s cap. Her make-up is traditional glam with an almost-red lip. She wears diamond drop earrings and high platform black heels with the signature Christian Louboutin-red undersides.
Doechii in Marc Jacobs
In a mostly nude look, claret-red, filmy fabric twists around the back of Doechii’s neck and down to cover her left breast. On the other side, the twisted fabric fans out over her right breast, drapes down her torso, and gathers on the opposite hip. Another section covers her backside, leaving her back bare, and falls to the ground.
A towering headdress, at least twice the height of her head, is woven with burgundy and maroon-red cloth. A few black curly tendrils escape the turban to frame her face. She wears silver anklets and at least two toe rings on bare feet, which are painted with henna designs. She also wears gold and turquoise-colored earrings, thick, gold bangle bracelets, and at least one gold statement ring.
Rihanna in Maison Margiela and jewelry by Glenn Martens
Rihanna’s torso, arms, and head seem to emerge from a cocoon of metallic fabric that resembles molten silvery bronze. The darkly burnished gold bodice has a high neck and long sleeves, and is completely encrusted with jewels, rhinestones, and glittering beads. Diamond bangle bracelets, massive diamond rings, and crystal charms hanging from her jeweled nails to continue the nearly ceaseless texture.
The enclosing swath of fabric resembling liquid metal creates a ring that encloses her torso from behind her neck, down the sides of her arms, and across her hips. That lustrous fabric continues to make a column down her legs to reach sandaled feet.
More jewels are placed to either side of her eyes and two tiny gems resemble teardrops near the inside of one eye. Jeweled cuffs hook onto her ears and she wears diamond earrings. Her dark hair is covered with coils of gold wire, and her eye shadow is done in metallic finishes.
Anok Yai in Pierpaolo Piccioli for Balenciaga and Leviev Diamonds
Anok’s full-length, inky black gown has an oversized black hood that frames her head and billows out over her shoulders. It tucks into a bodice that appears to be made up of fabric stretched across and around the torso to just below the hips. The full skirt flares outward in deep folds and ends in a train, and long black gloves reach up past her elbow.
Anok’s face and décolletage are toned in gold, and her wig is carefully molded to replicate sculpted hair with delicate curls at the temples. Translucent, prosthetic tears fall down her cheeks. She wears a diamond necklace that curves down to a teardrop-shaped pendant and diamond drop earrings.
Sombr in Maison Valentino
Sombr’s high-collared, long-sleeved shirt is made up of form-fitting black lace. An asymmetrical black panel covers the lower part of his torso and comes to a point over the chest, where a piece of that fabric drapes hangs from the point. His black pants have a wide silver waistband and widely spaced, shining silver pinstripes. The pants are also dotted with crystals, which are densely spaced near the waistband and more widely spaced as they fall down the pant legs. Most of his black, pointed toe shoes are hidden by the pants.
A cape wraps around Sombr’s shoulders, falls down the sides of his arms, and puddles in a long train behind him. It has black caps over the shoulders and the rest is beaded with black and silver to create flowing, shimmering lines like a waterfall.
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