3 min read
There’s a reason the Met Gala is known as “fashion’s biggest night out.” Held on the first Monday in May, the event is often considered the East Coast’s answer to the Oscars, drawing an enviable roster of A-listers—from actors and musicians to designers and cultural tastemakers—all in support of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute benefit.
While the red carpet commands global attention, the design of the event itself carries its own sense of theater, transforming the museum into a living expression of the year’s theme. For 2026, that theme—“Fashion Is Art”—builds on the Costume Institute’s latest exhibition, inviting attendees to treat their bodies as canvases and couture as an artistic medium.
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Beyoncé commands the garden-inspired red carpet.
Behind the scenes, the gala’s immersive environment is shaped by a team well-versed in spectacle: event designer Raul Àvila, filmmaker Baz Luhrmann, and Tony Award–winning set designer Derek McLane, who have collaborated on the past four Met Galas. The morning after this year’s celebration, VERANDA sat down with McLane to discuss the inspiration behind the evening’s garden-inspired design and how it all came to life.
This was your fourth Met Gala. How do you typically approach the design and collaborate with the team?
Raul Àvila is the event designer—he’s been doing it for many years. He creates all the florals, the table arrangements, and oversees the installation of the whole project. I act more like a set designer. I do sketches and come up with the big ideas.
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How did the idea for the design come together this year? I love that the guests felt almost like garden statues as they posed on the red carpet.
The Italian garden wasn’t the first thing we landed on. We were trying to figure out how to honor the theme of the new Costume Institute exhibition—it’s really incredible, but at first glance it’s a little hard to figure out how to turn that into a party.
The simplicity of an Italian garden in the evening was really appealing. It speaks to spring, to things being in bloom, and to a feeling of hopefulness. And the “red carpet” itself was painted sisal, like an Italian country road.
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Ashley Graham on the red carpet.
There seemed to be a sense of transition from day to night as guests moved through the space. Was that intentional?
Yes, exactly. The idea is that it’s sort of afternoon or daytime outside, and then you transition to evening as you go in. By the time you get to dinner, it’s really nighttime.
We also wanted to celebrate the new gallery space for the Costume Institute. They’ve never had their own dedicated space before, and now they have this incredible space right off the Great Hall.
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A 26-foot moon hangs above the Great Hall.
The moon was such a striking element—how was that realized?
It’s an inflatable moon, but it needed to be quite large—26 feet in diameter. Anything smaller wouldn’t dominate the space. It was custom-made in the U.K., printed in sections and assembled, with a fan at the top to keep it inflated. It was very simple, but it had a strong presence.
Then just beyond the Great Hall, where Anna Wintour and the co-chairs greet guests, there was a painted backdrop that I designed—an Italian country road lined with cypress trees.
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Kendall Jenner poses against a backdrop, designed to evoke an Italian country road.
Finally, I have to ask you to tell me about your suit. Everyone’s ensemble really popped on the Met steps—except for yours!
That was sort of the joke. I designed the wall coverings in the tent—the lavender and white wisteria—and it was a print we made from a photograph, softened so it felt more painterly and romantic, almost like wallpaper.
I was looking at it and thought it would be fun to make a suit from it. So I did a sketch and worked with a local tailor to make it. A highlight of the night was when Jay-Z came up to me and said, “Hey, I like your fit!”
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Designer Derek McLane walks the red carpet in a custom suit that matches the wisteria and lavender backdrop he designed.
Victor Maze (he/him) is the creative director of VERANDA, overseeing all visuals for the brand. He has spent more than two decades leading art teams at interior design, travel, and lifestyle magazines around the country. Learn more about Victor’s career in his leadership book Lead Like an Editor, which was named an Editor’s Pick and Business Book of the Year in the 2025 Publishers Weekly BookLife Awards. Outside of work, Victor’s passions include travel, pop culture, and theater. Follow him on LinkedIn on Instagram @victormaze.
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