Beyoncé returned to the Met Gala for the first time in a decade, and brought her 14-year-old daughter through a door that’s been closed to teens since 2018.
The 18-and-over rule dates back to 2018, after Maddie Ziegler, then 15, said publicly she’d been turned away for being underage. Anna Wintour formalized the policy that year, with organizers calling the gala “not an appropriate event for people under 18.” Charli D’Amelio was turned away in 2021 at 17. Kaia Gerber waited until she was 18 to make her debut. Millie Bobby Brown has never attended.
At 14, Blue Ivy is among the youngest people ever to walk through the gala’s doors. Beyoncé secured the exception as co-chair. Fellow co-chair Nicole Kidman also brought her daughter Sunday Rose, 17, who turns 18 in July.
This was Beyoncé’s first Met Gala appearance in ten years. Her last was in 2016 under the “Manus x Machina” theme. She came back this year as co-chair, with Jay-Z and Blue Ivy beside her. Her custom Olivier Rousteing gown was built around a skeleton motif, completed with a sweeping feathered train and a jeweled headpiece.
Blue Ivy wore custom Balenciaga: a strapless white gown with a long flowing train, a matching open jacket, sunglasses, and silver heels. “It feels surreal because my daughter is here,” Beyoncé told Vogue. “She looks so beautiful. It’s incredible to be able to share it with her. And I think she looks so incredible.”
The 2026 gala is co-chaired by Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, with Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez serving as honorary chairs. The theme is “Costume Art” and the dress code is “Fashion Is Art.”
The 2026 show is also the first held in the Costume Institute’s new permanent gallery space inside the museum. Blue Ivy already has a public fashion history. She walked the 2025 Angel Ball alongside her grandmother Tina Knowles, appeared at her mother’s Cowboy Carter Tour, and was photographed at the 2026 Super Bowl in a $3,895 Off-White varsity jacket.
