We’re diving into the 2026 Met Gala red carpet, where the fashion was only half the story. From surprise arrivals to late entrances that completely shifted the night’s energy, this year’s event delivered more chaos than ever. We break down the biggest fashion moments, including Beyoncé’s long-awaited return, Rihanna’s headline-making late arrival, and Blake Lively’s unexpected red carpet comeback just hours after major legal news broke. Plus, the standout looks, the most debated outfits, and the celebrity “power moves” that turned the Met Gala into one of the most talked-about nights of the year. Love binge-watching TV? The Spill has launched a new podcast called Watch Party where we deep dive into the shows everyone’s talking about. Follow the feed on Apple or Spotify now. 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Executive Producer: Monisha Iswaran Audio & Video Producer: Michael Kean Mamamia acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we have recorded this podcast.From Mamma Mia. Welcome to the Spill your daily pop culture fixed. I'm Laura Brednick, and I'm Free Player, executive producer of Mamma MIA's interview podcast No Filter, and former fashion magazine editor. Yes, you're always my partner in crime for these red carpet episodes in dcause we both have hot takes. They're usually very different we do. We often have very like opposing ideas. Yes, what was best, what was worse? And we've been avoiding each other in the office all day. Yeah, we had to yell at each other get away from me because we didn't want to. We didn't want to have a donation. Don't even look at it. You can look at me. We didn't want to have the conversation away from the mic. So if you are listening to this, it means you probably listen to our Met Gala little teaser that dropped in the feed earlier today, because we're dropping this episode a little bit later. Because with the Met car there's so many dresses and there's so many interviews, and then celebrities release their own like look books and updates afterwards. So we needed to bring the people boots on the ground. Journalism with all the looks. So that's why we're coming to you today with our special slightly later episode. Now before we jump into the best, worst, most disastrous, most surprising, most sentimental looks of the day, it's a broad, broad range of looks we're getting into. If you want to see the looks, if you want to actually have the photos in front of you, you can go and listen to us on Apple Podcasts where we're on videos, so you can watch us delightful, watch my face get veteran, veteran rhetoric as I get more excited and overwhelmed. Or you can go and look at all the photos in a gallery on Instagram. So just search the Spill podcast on Instagram. The gallery will be clearly labeled in order of how we're speaking about the looks, so you can follow along and see them all there. Okay, without further ad you, well, our first look is kind of a shared one because we want to just start things off with a bang, and that is Miss Beyonce, who came to the Met Gala for the first time. It was it ten years in over a decade. It's just like so exciting to see her back on the Met Gala. Red carpet, which of course is not red. Let's let's start off by saying, give there a carpet. I love the carpet non red. Okay, this might be the only thing. This might be the thing weiss best dressed to the night is the carpet. I loved it. I did a little moss between Yeah. Yeah, they looked like it was like fake but beautifully done. Yeah, very artistic. Really, and let's bring this to the forefront as well. The theme for this U's met Gala is about fashion being art Yes, so costume costume. So what we get to see is not only like the setting, which is why it's not just your standard red carpet being very artistic and very creative. Is the clothes then on it? And I thought, yeah, the way that it looked this time, it was kind of like it's like a beigey sort of cobblestony, Yes, cobblestony, with like the moss between it. And they had all the beautiful kind of draping again coming down the ceiling. It was creamy it was, and greens and purple it was. It was beautiful, which I thought was such a beautiful backdrop to put all the clothes on as well. Yeah, because sometimes the stairs look lovely, but once you get a dress on them, they cancel each other out. Yeah, like remember the pink here the camp Yeah nine much like it was gorgeous, but then some outfits just didn't work. Yeah, no, no, And that's why celebs are releasing their own They're having their own photo shoots first and releasing them because they're like, I can't trust the lighting and any red carpet, but especially the met gala. Can't trust the lighting, can't trust the background. So okay, and that's the thing. As everyone took their photo, that was the bit where the steps before they became green, they were in that beautiful cream color, which is not a nice backdrop for all the dresses. So we had Beyonce rock up has it been there in ten years? And she was wearing a diamond encrusted dress that looked like a skeleton, so it had like the rib cage and like the pelvis and her hands were skeleton kind of a vibe. And I guess that's to show like the body in its like most like basic form a skeleton, a skeleton. And that's what part of the theme was, was showing the body as well, and the body being kind of the basis for art, so as you say, skeleton is the body stripped back to its most basic form. But I mean, of course, because it's Beyonce. It's jewel encrusted and it's incredible. And then she wore this long feathered cake. Yeah, incredible, that dreaped and then the head piece as well. I mean it's Beyonce, She's always going to bring the dru Yeah. Some people are like, oh, she could have lost the head piece and it's like, no, no, the head piece and it was Olivia Rousting, wasn't it. He used to be from Balmain, who's like she's worked with him before. Yes, she's won a lot of Almaine over the years, so yeah, it wasn't surprising that that's who dressed it. I felt, yes, but I think she looked glorious and I loved that she showed up with her gorgeous, gorgeous best accessory, her daughter. Yes, it was a night for daughters. Yes, Nicole kim And was toting one of her daughters down the red carpet and then Beyonce did it. But Blue Ivy, her oldest daughter who's fourteen now, and I think she actually looked like appropriately dressed for fourteen year olds. I do too. There was a lot anund the office. It's about you know, her being on the on the carpet anyway, and at this event, and you know, these experiences that these really young girls are getting to have. But I thought she I agree, I thought she looked age appropriate and so so gorgeousful so much like her mother. Yeah, that was such a moment because the Beyonce floated up and everyone gass and then Blue Ivy floated behind her, and then they had their moment, and they had their moment together, and then jay Z ran up and and then he was in there and but then they obviously I actually feel like as a family they practiced in the mirror at home because when they got into their first formation for their first photo, they just all I did. Yeah, they just instantly got into the right places and held a pose. And I was like, well, you guys have been practicing that the family living room. Yeah, and I appreciate that level of And Beyonce is a co chair this year. What's interesting is the timing of Beyonces arrived. Yes, if you'll notice all the other co chairs arrived at the top of the top of the day, which is kind of usually, which is how it goes, because they meant to greet people as they come in. Yes, that's part of it. They meant to greet people as they come in. Beyonce has ascended above that level where she is not a greeter. No, they had She's up stairs and being like, hik so much for coming to our party, thanks for coming for a little shin dig Like, no, Beyonce is not doing that. Her arrival was such a moment. It really was. Okay, who else did you go? Because we get week spend an hour on everyone fifty looks to get through. Okay, I'm going to start strut with my favorite of the whole night, and you won't be surprised by this, I don't think. Okay. My favorite was Oh, Sabrina Carpenter. Yes, Sabrina was in Dior. She's been wearing a lot of Dior lately. Jonathan Anderson, who was at Louerva, is now in the House of Dior and doing the most incredible job. Because there has been like quite a shuffle in the last couple of years in the design houses, where like there were designers in certain houses that felt a little bit mislike. Now, I'm not saying he was amazing at Louerva. He did a great job there, but I do feel like what he is doing at Dior is what should be happening at Dior. So I was very excited for this year's met Gala because I feel like after years of kind of the wrong creative directors being in the houses that I felt maybe were they weren't aligned to, or that there were people in those roles that maybe weren't doing the best job interesting for those houses, the dust is settled, and I feel like this is the first time in a few y