Watch: Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams Will Co-Chair 2026 Met Gala
Anne Hathaway once again proved that she knows all about this stuff.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 star created her own runway moment at the 2026 Met Gala, embodying the night’s “Fashion Is Art” dress code in a gorgeous Michael Kors gown complete with hand-painted designs by artist Peter McGough (See all the celebrity looks on the Met Gala steps.)
Anne was joined by Michael himself to sport the show-stopping look—which included a deep V-cut neckline, as well as images of a bird and a painting of Irene, the Greek goddess of Peace.
Her arrival May 4 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art—where the “Costume Art” exhibition-themed benefit is being co-chaired by Anna Wintour, Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams—marks Hathaway’s ninth Met Gala appearance.
And while she’s attended three times in Valentino since making her debut at the event in 2009, the 43-year-old has also created her own tradition of paying homage to fashion’s larger-than-life icons.
The white tweed Versace safety pin dress she wore in 2023 was an elegant twist on the groundbreaking 1990s-era design, as well as a dual sartorial shoutout to the Italian label’s late namesake Gianni Versace and the night’s theme, “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” the German designer having spent 36 years as creative director of Chanel before his death in 2019.
Last year’s look, an immaculate Carolina Herrera white shirt and glittering column skirt embellished with 200,000 beads and rhinestones was a subtle tribute to late Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley, as he was the first journalist to interview the Venezuelan designer when she launched her eponymous label in 1981.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
“We love everybody here, we respect everybody here,” Hathaway told Vogue outside the Met in 2025. But, “We dressed for one person, and we wanted André Leon Talley to look down from heaven and scream, ‘Glamour!'”
In any case, her outfit was the opposite of dreckitude.
But the Oscar winner doesn’t wait for a red carpet for indulge her love of getting dressed—and all that implies.
“Style is not bought—it is created,” Hathaway wrote in the foreword to her longtime stylist Erin Walsh‘s new book, The Art of Intentional Dressing. “Style is about communication—either by revealing something or by withholding something. Fashion is only ever one thing: your personal relationship to it.”
And on this occasion in particular, she can let her look do the talking. See all the celebrity fashion speaking volumes at the 2026 Met Gala…
Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Photo by Julian Hamilton/Getty Images
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Matt Crossick/PA Images via Getty Images
Matt Baron/Shutterstock
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
David Fisher/Shutterstock
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Theo Wargo/FilmMagic
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Photo by Kevin Mazur/MG26/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
John Salangsang/Shutterstock
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Matt Baron/Shutterstock
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Tune in to E! today, May 4, starting at 6 p.m. ET/3 p.m. PT for every must-see moment from the Met Gala 2026.
