The Met Gala 2026 was a feast for the eyes but few looks outlast the morning after, those that do tend to share a certain quality – an insistence on detail, finish and a kind of workmanship that reveals itself slowly. Call us biased, but many of the moments that have lingered over the years trace back to the region: Camila Morrone in a blush pink asymmetrical Elie Saab gown at the 2019 Camp-themed gala, Jennifer Lopez in Zuhair Murad's intricately worked silver and grey. These are looks that helped establish Arab couture as a mainstay in couture and the global red carpet.
At the 2026 Met Gala, themed Fashion Is Art, that legacy felt like a natural extension of the evening’s premise. As guests climbed the storied steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 5 May, the red carpet unfolded as a living gallery. Each look responded to the exhibition it celebrated, Costume Art. Bringing together nearly 400 garments and artworks from across the museum’s vast holdings, the show rests on a quietly radical idea: that the dressed body has always been central to how art tells the story of humanity, traced through recurring archetypes: the Classical Body, the Naked Body, the Ageing Body.
On the carpet, guests arrived in looks that honoured moments across art history, some referencing its iconography, others literally reconstructing iconic paintings in fabric and form. A handful of looks from Arab designers made their mark immediately, but look closely and the influence runs deeper still.
Emily Blunt in Ashi Studio
Founded by Mohammed Ashi, Saudi couture house Ashi Studio, known for its intricate handcraft and a sensibility that sits between Eastern opulence and Western silhouette, dressed Emily Blunt. For the actor, the label created a sculpted black lace corset with dense hand-embroidered beadwork and tassel detailing at the shoulders, worn with fluid wide-leg silk trousers. Pearl strands and diamonds are draped across the body in a way that blurs the line between jewellery and garment. The house has previously dressed Cate Blanchett and Eva Longoria on major red carpets, and this look carries that same hallmark, it rewards close attention. @ashistudio
Sabine Getty in Ashi Studio
Ashi Studio's second look at the Met Gala 2026 takes a more painterly approach. The corseted bodice has been hand-painted to replicate the tonal modelling of a classical figurative painting — light and shadow worked across the fabric to create the impression of form beneath it, including what appears to be a handprint rendered in body-like tones across the torso. It's a technique that speaks to the house's interest in illusion and surface transformation. The lower half introduces shredded tulle, a material contrast that adds movement and a degree of fragility to an otherwise sculptural composition. @ashistudio
Jennifer Rubio in Ashi Studio
The third Ashi Studio look of the night works in deep amber tones, with a corset treated to read almost like carved wood or lacquered resin, a finish the house has explored before in its haute couture collections. Two three-dimensional sculpted figures climb the bodice, giving the piece an architectural and somewhat mythological quality. This kind of relief work, figures or motifs built out from the garment's surface, is a recurring element in Mohammed Ashi's design vocabulary. A softly draped white silk skirt provides contrast beneath, balancing the rigidity of the structured top. @ashistudio
Samar Hejazi in Zaid Farouki
Palestinian-Canadian artist Samar Hejazi wore a look by fellow Palestinian designer Zaid Farouki that prioritised form over ornament. The silhouette pushed outward at the hips, sculptural and almost architectural, while a structured leather bodice brought tactile weight to the upper half. A sheer skirt softened the composition without undercutting it. In a year when many defaulted to embellishment as their answer to the theme, this was something quieter and more demanding: a garment conceived as an object as much as something to be worn. @zaidfarouki
Beyond the Red Carpet: Inside the Exhibition
What made Hejazi's presence at this year's gala particularly resonant was that her influence extended beyond the red carpet entirely. Among the works commissioned for Costume Art are sculptural mannequin heads by Hejazi herself, whose practice spans sculpture, textiles, printmaking and installation. Working closely with curator Andrew Bolton, she redesigned the mannequin heads throughout the show, replacing the conventional face with a smooth, polished mirrored surface.
The intention was both practical and conceptual. Where a standard mannequin presents a fixed identity for the viewer to observe at a distance, Hejazi's reflective surfaces fold the viewer into the work itself. Whoever stands in front of them becomes part of the piece.
The mannequins appear throughout the show's sections on differently sized and abled bodies, quietly challenging the idealised forms that fashion has long relied upon to present itself. For Hejazi, the significance of the moment is less about the institutional spotlight and more about what it can open up. "I hope moments like this make space for more Arab creatives to be seen not as exceptions," she told Vogue Arabia, "but as part of the fabric of contemporary culture."
Beyoncé, Rihanna and Vittoria Ceretti in Amina Muaddi
Beyond the gowns, the evening's attention to craft extended to the floor. Paris-based designer Amina Muaddi created custom heels for a select group of guests, among them Beyoncé, Rihanna and Vittoria Ceretti, each pair designed to complement the look it accompanied rather than compete with it.
Beyoncé wore a custom version of the brand's Yigit pump in latte satin, its angular platform and narrow pointed toe offering a controlled counterpoint to the intricacy above. Rihanna chose metallic lace-up sandals with a jewelled toe ring from the brand's upcoming cruise 2026 collection, while Vittoria Ceretti's black satin pumps brought a quieter precision to her Carolina Herrera look. Amina Muaddi, who is of Jordanian heritage, has become one of the most sought-after names in luxury footwear. Her presence across three of the evening's most prominent looks was a reminder that the Middle East's influence on this carpet reaches further than it might first appear. @aminamuaddi
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