The Biggest Flex at Last Night’s Met Gala Was <em>Not</em> Wearing Vintage
After years of archival pulls, this time the stars prioritized the custom and the new
Reported by Harper's Bazaar.
Something shifted on this year's Met Gala carpet — and it wasn't just the hemlines. Where recent editions leaned heavily into archival pulls and designer-archive deep dives, the 2026 red carpet was a near-total surrender to heritage houses showing new work. Nicole Kidman and Sunday Rose, Margot Robbie, and Gracie Abrams all arrived in Chanel. Zoe Kravitz, Connor Storie, and Hailey Bieber wore Saint Laurent. Anok Yai, Hudson Williams, and Blue Ivy Carter showed up in Balenciaga. The pattern was impossible to miss: the industry's biggest labels dressed the night's biggest names, and they did it in current-season clothes.
The Vintage Era Didn't Die — It Just Took the Night Off
The contrast is worth sitting with. Not long ago, the Met carpet was a showcase for stylist scholarship — Zendaya in a spring 1996 Givenchy gown in 2024, Lily Rose Depp in a 1992 Chanel dress once worn by Christy Turlington, Emily Ratajkowski in 1992 Versace, Kendall Jenner in Fall 1999 Givenchy couture. Kim Kardashian wearing Marilyn Monroe's Jean Louis dress in 2022 remains one of the most debated moments in the event's history. According to Harper's Bazaar, those archival choices defined an era of red carpet storytelling — one that, at least for one night, appears to have paused.
This year's vintage count was slim. The standout was Carey Mulligan, whose stylist Danielle Goldberg surfaced a 1998 abstract-print Prada look from the archives — quiet, considered, and the best dressed argument of the evening. Sabrina Carpenter changed into a Versace Spring-Summer 2018 tribute dress — itself a reference to Gianni Versace's 1991 pop art collection — to perform. Ashley Graham left her hotel after midnight in a body-con Jean Paul Gaultier from Spring 1999. Three looks. That's your vintage moment in 2026.
The reason this happened isn't mysterious — it's economic and structural. An unusually high volume of new creative directors have debuted freshman collections in the past two seasons: Jonathan Anderson at Dior, Alessandro Michele at Valentino, Matthieu Blazy at Chanel, Demna Gvasalia at Gucci. Each house has obvious incentive to claim red carpet real estate at what amounts to fashion's Super Bowl, and celebrities have equally obvious incentive to align with the brands writing the checks and building the custom looks. Even John Galliano — now a creative partner at Zara — dressed Stevie Nicks in a midnight blue silk taffeta gown with a matching velvet jacket. The moment was earned.
If the widely accepted definition of vintage requires at least 20 years of age, today's new collections won't qualify until 2046 — which means the archival renaissance may be on a longer hiatus than anyone expected. The real flex this year wasn't digging through a designer's archive; it was being the designer everyone wanted on their body right now.
Read the original at Harper's Bazaar.
