Anne Hathaway’s 2026 Met Gala Dress Was Inspired by a Poem

As a regular attendee (nine times now!), Anne Hathaway was one of the most highly anticipated A-listers at the 2026 Met Gala—and the star certainly did not disappoint with her artful look.

Fresh off of her whirlwind press tours for The Devil Wears Prada 2 and Mother Mary, Hathaway made time to hit the steps of the Met wearing a custom Michael Kors Collection dress, designed in collaboration with the prominent American artist Peter McGough (a close friend of Kors). To closely consider the evening’s dress code—Fashion Is Art—the duo worked together on an elegant, hand-painted dress that was right on theme.

Sketch of a robed, ceremonial figure with an ornate, U-shaped collar and braided trim, hands clasped near a small, dove-like shape held at chest level.

A sketch of Hathaway’s dress by Peter McGough.

Fashion illustration: a woman in a strapless black gown with a high-low hem and thigh-high slit, standing confidently with one hand on hip

A sketch of Hathaway’s dress by Michael Kors.

The strapless black Mikado silk ball gown, complete with a plunging neckline and high-leg slit, served as a sleek canvas for McGough’s intricate hand-painting work. The inspiration for his peaceful visuals? A poem. “We used ‘Ode on a Grecian Urn’ by John Keats as a starting point,” Kors says. “We loved collaborating with Anne to tell a story that is as old as time: a wish for peace, beauty, and harmony.”

In the famous 1819 poem, Keats riffs on the relationship between art, beauty, and truth, using the Grecian urn as a form of symbolism. “Heard melodies are sweet, but those unheard / Are sweeter,” he wrote. McGough then painted the Kors gown with black and white scenes reminiscent of ancient urns (much like those displayed inside of the Met’s collection). Imagery of doves and floral flourishes are seen along the borders, while a goddess of peace is depicted on the back train.

Black-and-white sketch of a woman in a long dress with a tall, decorative bonnet extending upward to the left side of the image.

A sketch of the back of Hathaway’s dress by Peter McGough.

“This dress, to me, is about the goddess of a Grecian urn, and what I love about the dress is that it turns the person into an object of art,” says McGough. “It’s moving art—fashion and art, they go together for me: Fashion is wearable art.”

The end result, punctuated with jewels by Bulgari, may have made for a striking red-carpet moment, but it also had an imaginative and skillful touch that was indeed worthy of being hung up in the Met itself.

This article was originally published on Vogue.com.