Cardi B takes her curves to new extremes on Met Gala 2026 red carpet

Is Cardi B the drama? On the first Monday in May, absolutely.

The “WAP” rapper graced the Met Gala 2026 red carpet wearing a Marc Jacobs custom lace ruffle dress layered over a color-blocked bodysuit.

She paired the dramatic gown with 9½-inch platform boots.

The look is inspired by the work of German artist Hans Bellmer, as well as the Fall 2025 Marc Jacobs Runway Collection, which features exaggerated volume.

Bellmer is credited with developing the Surrealist theme of mannequins and dolls as metaphors of sexuality.

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Ahead of her red carpet showing, the rapper was spotted leaving The Mark hotel in a bathrobe and sporting her sky-high boots.

Tonight marks Cardi’s seventh time walking up those iconic Metropolitan Museum of Art stairs, and she fully embraced the title of this year’s exhibition, “Costume Art,” and its accompanying “Fashion Is Art” dress code.

In a press release when the theme was first announced, curator Andrew Bolton explained that the exhibition would examine “the centrality of the dressed body,” adding, “‘Costume Art’ privileges its materiality and the indivisible connection between our bodies and the clothes we wear.”

At last year’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” ball, Cardi chose a plunging green velvet suit from Burberry, inspired by black dandyism and Victorian dress and corsetry.

The year prior, for “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” the “Drip” rapper turned heads on the museum steps wearing a black tulle gown by Windowsen with a seemingly mile-long train.

Her most unforgettable Met moment came in 2019, however, when Cardi leaned into the “Camp: Notes on Fashion” theme with a breathtaking red Thom Browne look festooned with feathers and sparkling stones galore.

Even Anna Wintour said she was “completely in awe” of the look, remarking, “She could barely move, but it made no difference. People parted like the queen coming through because she looked so fantastic.”