Lena Dunham Wears Custom Valentino Gown at 2026 Met Gala

The 2026 Met Gala was held on Monday, May 4, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City under the “Costume Art” theme that asked guests to draw fashion inspiration from art history. Lena Dunham, 39, attended for the first time in seven years and served on the host committee.

She wore a custom crimson gown by Valentino’s Alessandro Michele embroidered with sequins and trimmed with crow’s feathers encircling the high neckline and running down the long train.

Alessandro Michele focused on a particular blood spatter on the neck of Holofernes in the painting for the gown design. “Rather than leaning into the Renaissance garments or the swords or any of it, he was attracted to a particular blood spatter on the neck of Holofernes. Obviously, that’s what I was going to choose,” Dunham said.

She wore onyx ear jackets featuring silver sword-shaped drops, a blood-spatter patterned manicure painted by nail artist Sonya Meesh, bleached eyebrows, and Scarlet Valentino Rockstud heels. The look was styled by Talia Cassel and Michael Handler. For the after-party she wore an ivory bustier dress with a flouncy gathered skirt, lace-up boots and a beaded pendant necklace.

Dunham grew up visiting the Metropolitan Museum of Art every Sunday with her family. She was hospitalized for days after the 2017 Met Gala due to endometriosis complications and attended the 2018 Met Gala while on leave from a rehab facility. Her last Met Gala appearance before 2026 was in 2019, when she and Jemima Kirke wore matching Christopher Kane latex outfits.

“This year was a bit of a vote of confidence. I felt like they were saying, ‘We see you’re feeling better. You’re in your body. You can do this,’” Dunham told Vogue. Dunham has been touring her memoir “Famesick” around the country.

Her Netflix rom-com “Good Sex,” starring Natalie Portman and Mark Ruffalo, is slated for release later in 2026. U.S. dollars at the gala.

The necklace featured a 550-carat gemstone known as the “Queen of Mererani” sourced from the Mererani Hills in Tanzania, the sole producer of tanzanite. U.S. dollars, about 39 billion Tanzanian shillings.