Kylie and Kendall Jenner are being hailed as theme masters after their Met Gala 2026 Schiaparelli and GapStudio moments. Beyoncé's showstopping Olivier Rousteing moment is being celebrated as a triumphant return, with sources calling it 'worth the 10-year wait.' Doja Cat and Sabrina Carpenter are receiving praise for pushing fashion boundaries in Saint Laurent and Dior respectively.
Melissa Rivers isn't holding back — she called Cardi B's Marc Jacobs look 'a Marc Jacobs intestine' that was 'just unattractive.' Sam Smith earned the nickname 'Grim Geisha,' while Janelle Monáe's Christian Siriano ensemble prompted Melissa to say it looked like they grabbed 'moss out of a plant' and 'phone chargers.' The Kardashian-Jenner hierarchy at the Met? Kylie > Kendall > Kris > Kim.
Melissa Rivers spoke exclusively to Page Six Style on May 6, 2026, giving her verdicts on this year's Met Gala looks. She ranked the Kardashian-Jenner family as: Kylie first, Kendall second, Kris Jenner third, and Kim Kardashian fourth. The Met Gala 2026 theme was 'Costume Art,' which encouraged guests to 'celebrate the countless depictions of the dressed body throughout art history.'
The 'Costume Art' theme proved too abstract for many A-listers who defaulted to safe Grecian draping, but those who truly understood the assignment — Kylie, Doja Cat, Sabrina Carpenter — delivered unforgettable moments. The real takeaway? Sometimes less confusion yields more artistry.
When Melissa Rivers surveys a Met Gala red carpet, she sees what most of us miss. And this year, the "Fashion Police" alum had notes — plenty of them. Speaking exclusively to Page Six Style on May 6, 2026, Rivers tackled the notoriously tricky "Costume Art" theme that challenged celebrities to "celebrate the countless depictions of the dressed body throughout art history." According to Rivers, many guests played it safe.
"It was a difficult theme to interpret," she explained. "Many celebrities opted for traditional, pretty dresses with Grecian draping since the prompt was very hard to figure out." But some understood the assignment completely. Kylie Jenner arrived in Schiaparelli Haute Couture and immediately caught Rivers' attention as a top performer.
"The molded bodysuit, even with the nipples. The dress that was half-on, half-off. It was art, and it was artistic.
The volume and pattern of the skirt, the corset — the whole thing," Rivers said, praising Jenner's sculptural approach. Kendall Jenner also impressed in GapStudio by Zac Posen, prompting Rivers to wonder if Skims (owned by sister Kim Kardashian) might be "pushing the nipple bra that they made" given Kendall's strategic neckline choices. "I think the whole family organizes, even if they're getting ready separately," Rivers observed.
"They know a cohesive look." Rivers ranked the entire Kardashian-Jenner Met Gala hierarchy: Kylie first, Kendall second, Kris Jenner third — and Kim last among the famous family members. Kim Kardashian wore Allen Jones and Whitaker Malem, which Rivers acknowledged was sculptural and artistic but ultimately fell short. "I knew it was art.
I just think other people did it better. Her two little sisters lapped her," Rivers said. "And those boobs!
Hey, kids, be careful: Someone's going to lose an eye!" Doja Cat delivered one of Rivers' earliest "wows" in Saint Laurent — a monochromatic latex ensemble that showcased serious technical skill. "Talk about art — trying to drape latex like that, so it moves," Rivers noted, praising the cohesive aesthetic down to the matching shoes. Sabrina Carpenter also earned high marks for her Dior look featuring film strips nodding to Audrey Hepburn, with the actual negatives of the movie "Sabrina" woven into the textile.
"If you really look at it, there's not a bump, there's not a crease," Rivers observed. "It was brilliant." The evening's true grand finale, however, belonged to Beyoncé — who arrived in Olivier Rousteing for Balmain flanked by Blue Ivy in Balenciaga and Jay-Z in Louis Vuitton. "That dress, I mean, how did they even get her in it?" Rivers marveled.
"Talk about nailing the assignment. And then to have Blue Ivy and Jay-Z! I mean, that's a nice-looking family.
That was worth the 10-year wait." The implication: this marked Beyoncé's first Met Gala appearance in approximately a decade. Not every risk paid off. Janelle Monáe's Christian Siriano look left Rivers unimpressed.
"It looked like they walked around the workroom and just slapped s—t on her," she quipped. "Like, 'Give me the moss out of the plant!' 'Does anyone have any phone chargers?' 'Let's throw some stuff on the boobs!' It looked like she was trying out to be one of the characters in 'Wicked.' And we expect so much from her — she always goes over the top — but this time, over the top was just a miss." Cardi B's Marc Jacobs wire ensemble prompted perhaps Rivers' most cutting remark: "A Marc Jacobs intestine!
Boy, it just was unattractive." Meanwhile, Sam Smith earned an entirely new moniker. "The actual most frightening was Sam Smith, whom I have dubbed the 'Grim Geisha,'" Rivers deadpanned. "If you saw that sitting at the end of your bed, you'd be like, 'Wow, the Grim Reaper seems to be really well dressed this year.'" Heidi Klum's Mike Marino marble-inspired look earned a similar WTF reaction: "We know Heidi loves Halloween.
And yes — art, marble, get it. But you know how they say Christmas in July? Yeah, this was Halloween in May." Teyana Taylor's Tom Ford moment didn't land either, with Rivers dryly noting, "Everybody's raving about it, and all I saw was gay Cousin Itt." Lisa of Blackpink proved that sometimes risks genuinely work.
Her Robert Wun ensemble featured a beautiful base layer topped with a veil held up by arm molds of her own arms — an artistic choice Rivers couldn't fully explain but thoroughly appreciated. "Sometimes you take a risk and it works; this was leaning into the art, and Lisa's look worked," she concluded. The evening's other standout couples included Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union in Michael Kors Collection, which Rivers praised for its liquid-like draping and perfect color palette.
"Kors is so brilliant at draping and tailoring. And then him with the no sleeves. He brought good genetics, and she brought good genetics and a phenomenal dress," Rivers said.
"And the two of them together did hit the theme!" Lena Dunham's Valentino look prompted perhaps the most sympathetic critique — not for lack of effort but for simple proportions. "She's on such a career comeback, but the thing is, she's too short for that dress — and I say this as someone who's small," Rivers said. "When you have stuff at the top and stuff at the bottom and the train and the slit ... it's a proportion thing.
Certain clothes look better on tall people. And that was just a bummer." The ultimate lesson from Met Gala 2026? Abstract themes invite abstraction — but not everyone knows what to do with that freedom.
The celebrities who studied their art history (or simply trusted their designers) delivered memorable moments. Those who defaulted to pretty-in-Grecian left Rivers wanting more artistry in an evening supposedly dedicated to costume as art.
