How to watch Met Gala 2026 red carpet for free: Time, livestream

It’s the first Monday in May, which can only mean one thing.

Fashion’s biggest night — a.k.a. the Met Gala — is tonight, May 4, and celebs will begin pulling up to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in just a few hours.

This year’s gala theme “Costume Art”, with a “Fashion is Art” dress code. Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams are co-hosts of tonight’s gala with Anna Wintour, while the hosting committee has returned for 2026 with Saint Laurent creative director Anthony Vaccarello and actress Zoë Kravitz.

Jeff Bezos and wife Lauren Sanchez will be honorary chairs.

Read on for everything you need to know about this year’s exclusive event, including how to catch all the red carpet looks from home.

Experience the Met Gala through the eyes of the front row — follow Page Six on Instagram to watch us capture every red carpet detail with Ray-Ban Meta glasses, then shop the look to start filming your own POV.

Met Gala 2026 start time

While red carpet arrivals typically begin around 5 p.m. ET, red carpet coverage on both Vogue and E! is scheduled to begin at 6 p.m. ET.

What channel is the Met Gala red carpet on?

The Met Gala red carpet will air on E!, with an additional stream on Vogue’s YouTube channel.

E!’s coverage will be live with commentary from a panel that includes E! mainstays Justin Sylvester and Keltie Knight, fashion expert Zanna Roberts Rassi, “Summer House” star Ciara Miller, Real Housewife Bronwyn Newport, two-time WNBA champion Renee Montgomery, celebrity hairstylist Chris Appleton and designer Christian Siriano.

Vogue’s livestream will be hosted by Ashley Graham, La La Anthony, and Cara Delevingne, with Emma Chamberlain serving as a red carpet correspondent.

How to watch the Met Gala red carpet for free

In addition to the Vogue livestream, you can catch all the action on E!’s three-hour red carpet special.

If you don’t have cable, the best way to stream the Met Gala red carpet live is to use a live TV streaming service with a free trial.

We recommend DIRECTV, which offers a five-day free trial for new subscribers. When the trial ends, you’ll pay as low as $34.99/month and gain access to live TV, including E!.

fuboTV, which has E! in its Essential plan, also offers a free trial for new users. It runs for five days, and then you’ll be able to save $25 on your first month .

Met Gala theme 2026

The theme of the 2026 Met Gala and its corresponding exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is “Costume Art,” which explores body shapes and parts, as well as the clothes that cover or highlight them.

Per the museum, the exhibit “explores depictions of the dressed body across The Met’s vast collection, pairing garments with artworks to reveal the inherent relationship between clothing and the body.”

This year’s dress code is “Fashion is Art,” which goes hand-in-hand with the theme. Stars will “express their own relationship to fashion as an embodied art form and celebrate the countless depictions of the dressed body throughout art history,” with looks referencing Mondrian, Picasso, Dalí and more.

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This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Streaming Reporter for the New York Post, Page Six, and Decider. Angela keeps readers up to date with information on how to watch all of your favorite reality TV shows and movies on each streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she’s also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, celebrities and pop culture. Prior to joining The Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews