Met Gala Jewellery 2026: A Closer Look at the Night’s Standout Pieces

The Met Gala has always been the most theatrical red carpet of the year, but this year, the jewels had a particularly important role to play. The event marked the opening of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2026 Costume Institute exhibition, ‘Costume Art’, with a ‘Fashion Is Art’ dress code that invited guests to approach the body as a canvas.

The evening offered a dazzling reminder that jewellery has always belonged in the conversation between body, beauty and art. On the red carpet, that translated into a rich melée of references, from antique and archival pieces to more surreal, sculptural jewels. Here, we explore the Met Gala jewellery highlights.

A Night of Big Statements

Beyoncé and Rihanna were among the standout Met Gala jewellery moments, each delivering a look that fully embraced the theme. Marking her first Met Gala appearance in a decade, Beyoncé – a co-chair of this year’s gala – brought high drama to the red carpet in a custom, crystal-embellished skeleton-style bustier gown by Olivier Rousteing. A sculptural, sunburst-like headpiece and layers of high jewellery by Chopard, including a Garden of Kalahari collection necklace set with 146 carats of diamonds, alongside Precious Lace earrings, completed her flashbulb-friendly look.

Rihanna also arrived enveloped in head-to-toe shimmer, leaning into the idea of a living sculpture in a draped Maison Margiela gown layered with crystal beading, antique jewels and chains. With a swirling gold-threaded crown worn close to the head, her ears were laden with diamonds, including a chunky Dyne ear cuff and Old Mine desert diamond earrings with reverse-set pavé jackets by Glenn Spiro.

Emily Blunt overlaid her tassel-shouldered top and tailored trousers by Ashi Studio with an extraordinary Mikimoto body jewel composed of cascading strands of Akoya pearls. Set with a 21.85-carat pear-shaped morganite and more than 45 carats of diamonds, it made high jewellery the focal point of the look.

One of the evening’s most striking jewellery moments came from outside the usual celebrity circle, with Sudha Reddy arriving in jewels from her own personal collection. The Indian businesswoman and philanthropist wore a remarkable necklace set with the 550-carat ‘Queen of Merelani’ tanzanite, valued at more than $15 million. Paired with her intricately embroidered ‘Tree of Life’ gown and train, the scale of the stone spoke for itself.

The Red Carpet as Canvas

Madonna embraced the uncanny, with her eccentric Saint Laurent look recreating the 1945 painting The Temptation of St. Anthony by Mexican Surrealist artist Leonora Carrington. A ship-shaped headpiece and trailing cornflower chiffon veil lent the look a dreamlike quality, while a Falcon Crest pendant and chain by Castro NYC provided a final, talismanic detail. 

Part couture, part performance, Sarah Paulson arrived in an exaggerated tulle gown by Matières Fécales, worn with long opera gloves, a Ruban Diamants choker by Boucheron and an oversize dollar bill obscuring her eyes. Chase Infiniti, meanwhile, delivered one of the night’s most painterly looks. Her Thom Browne gown mapped the body in a rainbow of sequins, applied like brushstrokes, while high jewellery by independent New York house MARLI New York, including Lady Liberty earrings set with green tourmaline, opal, tsavorite and diamonds, echoed the vivid palette.

Heritage Indian Craft on a Global Stage

Beyond the expected celebrity spectacle, Indian artistry made its presence felt through some of the night’s most intricate and time-intensive looks. Alongside Sudha Reddy’s extraordinary tanzanite necklace, Manish Malhotra, the Indian fashion designer who has in recent years expanded into jewellery, played a central role in the evening’s showcase of Indian craftsmanship, with his couture and jewels seen on Sudha Reddy, Karan Johar, Dwayne Johnson and Camila Mendes.

Indian royalty also made an appearance, with Maharaja Sawai Padmanabh Singh and Princess Gauravi Kumari of Jaipur making their Met Gala debuts in Prabal Gurung designs that drew on Rajasthani craftsmanship and family history. Gauravi wore a gown incorporating a pink chiffon sari once owned by her grandmother, Maharani Gayatri Devi, paired with layered pearl necklaces from The Gem Palace in Jaipur, a kundan choker and heritage bangles. 

Indian businesswoman Isha Ambani arrived wearing pieces from her mother Nita Ambani’s collection in a look that blurred the line between couture and high jewellery. Her heavily encrusted blouse was crafted almost entirely from gemstones, layered with polki diamonds and tiered necklaces set in the traditional kundan style. Among them were pieces linked to the fabled Nizam of Hyderabad collection – the kind of jewels that rarely leave a vault, let alone grace the Met steps.

The Power of Keeping It Simple

Not every jewellery moment needed a concept. Some attendees let exceptional high jewellery take the lead, including Vogue editor in chief and Met Gala co-chair Anna Wintour, who wore a ‘Simone’ transformable high jewellery necklace by Van Cleef & Arpels nestled in her mint green Chanel feathered jacket. 

Bvlgari dressed both Anne Hathaway, in a Vimini necklace, earrings and ring from its new Eternal collection, and Lisa Manobal, who chose a sapphire and diamond necklace from the Eclettica high jewellery collection. Margot Robbie opted for classic diamond chandelier earrings by Chanel, while Rosé, Chase Sui Wonders and Rosie Huntington-Whiteley all turned to Tiffany & Co. for high-wattage diamond necklaces. And staying true to her vintage sensibility, Kate Moss wore antique old mine diamond drop earrings and a Georgian rose-cut diamond ring from A La Vieille Russie.

With ‘Fashion Is Art’ as the brief, the night offered a spectrum of interpretations, some more successful than others, alongside a rare glimpse of jewels not often seen in public. From stones that bordered on the unbelievable to pieces steeped in history, it amounted to one of the year’s most diverse displays of high jewellery, far removed from the more traditional red-carpet formula. Discover more of our favourite Met Gala jewellery looks in the gallery below.