When you think of the annual Met Gala, an extremely high-fashion red carpet comes to mind. As was the case at this year’s affair, stars show up in one-of-a-kind couture creations (not to mention jewels worth millions)—displaying the finest designs that luxury fashion houses have to offer. This is not, it should be said, about wearability or practicality: Rather, it centers around displaying just how creative, artistic, and downright over-the-top fashion can be.
It was surprising to many at-home viewers, then, that a number of attendees showed up to the 2026 Met Gala in. . . jeans. A staple in our everyday wardrobes, sure, but hardly a formal or groundbreaking garment worthy of fashion’s biggest night.
Troye Sivan, for one, wore head-to-toe Prada: His black coat and white poplin shirt were paired with devoré-effect jeans (and cool cowboy boots), a reference to the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe’s own look (and, it should be said, feathered coiffure). Model Bhavitha Mandava, meanwhile, wore Mathieu Blazy’s Chanel—her beige muslin half-zip sweater worn over a pair of muslin-printed pants that had a blue jean effect (but, contrary to many reports, were not in fact denim-denim.)
Still: Fashion spectators had a lot to say online about the presence of the humble jean at the Met. One commenter wrote, “Met Gala in jeans? Really?” Another wrote, “I don’t care what the inspo is: Jeans at the Met Gala should be an automatic blacklist.” But what if we told you. . . jeans can be quite effective at the Met, and even downright cool. Hear us out.
Mandava’s look, for starters, was almost identical to the one she wore to open Chanel’s pre-fall 2026 show in New York City—a fitting homage to her own achievements, given she became the first Indian model to ever open a Chanel show that day. Her Met look, then, was personal and intentional, nodding to her own historic career moment. The jean “effect” of her trousers was also right on-theme, too: The Met dress code this year was “fashion is art,” and if a trompe l’oeil design makes you look twice, we’d say that the pants accomplished the mission.
