Watch: Met Gala 2026 Dress Code Revealed
All is fair in love and war, but Simone Ashley is the victor of the 2026 Met Gala red carpet.
Celebrating the “Costume Art” exhibit’s focus on the dressed body, the Bridgerton star ascended the iconic steps at New York City’s Metropolitan of Art wearing only threaded silver chains on May 4.
Simone completed the nearly-naked look with bejeweled bracelets and chandelier earrings, dazzling like a diamond of the season.(Click here to see all the Met Gala fashion.)
And this isn’t the 31-year-old’s first time at fashion’s biggest night. She made her debut in 2022, stepping out in a bronzed bodice and black skirt with a dramatic train from Moschino as a nod to that year’s “Gilded Glamour” theme.
Simone returned two years later with a blue sequin gown by Prabal Gurung and a Rapunzel-like, knee-length hairdo in keeping with 2024 Met Gala’s “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” exhibit.
“The original idea was to create floor-length, super long hair inspired by Cher,” her hairstylist Shon Hyungsun Ju told Vogue at the time, “but I adapted it as I was more inspired by Botticelli hair—more like a goddess with soft waves.”
But Simone purposefully sat out on last year’s Met Gala, telling her team, “‘I want to focus on work.'”
“Life after Bridgerton has been so exciting,” she told Vogue India in 2024. “I was doing all these unbelievable things, like going to the Met Gala and shooting fashion editorials. It was a whirlwind. There were days when I would think, ‘What is going on?’”
Simone continued, “I struggled to admit that I was overwhelmed because I’m a person with such clarity. I know exactly what I’m doing and what I want.”
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
That includes working with Meryl Streep, playing the new assistant to the Oscar winner’s iconic Miranda Priestly character in the newly released The Devil Wears Prada 2.
“That was the magic,” Simone said of the experience in a recent interview with Bustle, “to be able to just go home and share it with the people around me.”
To see Simone and more stars at the Met Gala, keep reading…
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
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Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Photo by John Shearer/WireImage
Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Matt Crossick/PA Images via Getty Images
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Matt Baron/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
David Fisher/Shutterstock
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images
Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
Photo by ANGELA WEISS / AFP via Getty Image
Photo by Kevin Mazur/MG26/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue
Photo by 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
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Matt Baron/Shutterstock
Matt Baron/Shutterstock
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
David Fisher/Shutterstock
Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images
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.
