Gwendoline Christie made an honourable nod to the opera as she made a snub at Timothée Chalamet after he was blasted for saying ‘no one cares about it’.
The Game of Thrones star, 47, made a huge statement on the red carpet, making her beautifully crafted mask the centre of attention.
Masks have a significant relationship with opera, serving both as a foundational theatrical tool for characterisation in various traditions and as a central, symbolic plot device in Western musical theatre.
And now she has stepped out in a look similar to her 2024 appearance in a beautiful red gown with an off-the-shoulder design and a tulle skirt.
Gwendoline has long admired the work of her partner, designer Giles Deacon, and has wanted to wear his designs to the Met Gala for over a decade.
At the 2026 event, the Wednesday star wore a striking custom gown by Deacon inspired by three key artistic influences.
Gwendoline Christie, 47, made an honourable nod to the opera as she made a snub at Timothée Chalamet after he was blasted for saying ‘no one cares about it’
The Game of Thrones star made a huge statement on the red carpet, making her beautifully crafted mask the centre of attention
The dress reflects the elegance and flowing lines of painter John Singer Sargent, visible in its cinched waist and mermaid silhouette.
It also draws from the surreal, theatrical photography of Madame Yevonde, whom Christie discovered years ago and later learned is a distant relative.
Finally, the gown incorporates elements inspired by the psychedelic, distorted imagery of Ira Cohen, seen in the swirling diagonal colour patterns.
Her appearance comes after Timothée admitted to Matthew McConaughey in a Variety interview that he doesn’t want to work in an art that you ‘have to keep alive’.
He said: ‘I admire people, and I’ve done it myself, doing a talk show about how we’ve got to keep movie theatres alive, you know, we’ve got to keep this genre alive.
‘And another part of me feels like, if people want to see it, like Barbie, like Oppenheimer, they’re going to go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it.
‘And I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera or, you know, things where it’s like, ‘hey, keep this thing alive’, even though no one cares about this any more.
‘All respect to the ballet and opera people out there, I just lost 14 cents in viewership, I just took shots for no reason.’
Her dress reflects the elegance and flowing lines of painter John Singer Sargent, visible in its cinched waist and mermaid silhouette
Her appearance comes after Timothée admitted to Matthew McConaughey in a Variety interview that he doesn’t want to work in an art that you ‘have to keep alive’
The comments prompted criticism on social media from those in the two industries, including US opera singer Isabel Leonard.
Isabel wrote: ‘Honestly, I’m shocked that someone so seemingly successful can be so ineloquent and narrow-minded in his views about art while considering himself as an artist as I would only imagine one would as an actor.
‘To take cheap shots at fellow artists says more in this interview than anything else he could say. Shows a lot about his character.
‘You don’t have to like all art but only a weak person/artist feels the need to diminish in fact, the very arts that would inspire those who are interested in slowing down, to do exactly that.’
Canadian mezzo-soprano Deepa Johnny added in another comment: ‘What a disappointing take. There is nothing more impressive than the magic of live theatre, ballet and opera.
‘We should be trying to uplift these art forms, these artists and come together across disciplines to do that. The impact of these mediums are long, long-lasting and life-changing.’
His comments come after his private chef revealed the star was so pampered on the set of Wonka that he would have three alternative breakfasts prepared for him and would only eat one
Comedian Tom Davis, who was also in the film, said on the Parenting Hell podcast: ‘One thing that ground my gears – he had a personal chef.
‘And we were having quite ropey breakfasts. I got to know his personal chef quite a bit and I said, ”What are you cooking this morning?”
‘He said, ”I do three different things for Tim, and he’ll have one thing.”
‘And Timothée turned around and went, ”Hey man, why don’t you have the other two things?”
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit, also known as the Met Gala, falls on the first Monday in May every year.
The theme of this year’s event – widely considered the Super Bowl of celebrity red carpets – is ‘Costume Art’, while the dress code is ‘Fashion Is Art.’
The dress code calls on the A-list attendees to explore how designers use the human body as a blank canvas.
Leading the charge is a powerhouse trio of co-chairs, with Beyonce, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams joining forces with Vogue’s global editorial director Anna Wintour to oversee fashion’s biggest night.
It’s the first time tennis superstar Williams has co-chaired the gala. Kidman previously co-chaired the star-studded event in 2003 as well as 2005, and Beyonce was an honorary chair in 2013.
The New York City museum will pair historical and contemporary garments from the Costume Institute for the exhibition, which will be loosely divided into three categories, including the classical and the nude body, aging and pregnant bodies, and the anatomical body.
The exhibit – set to unveil the Met’s sprawling new Conde M. Nast Galleries – has been made possible by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sanchez, who are the lead sponsors and honorary co-chairs.
‘The title “Costume Art” refers to the history of the costume institute,’ Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s curator, said at a press conference.
Leading the charge is a powerhouse trio of co-chairs, with Beyonce, Nicole Kidman and Venus Williams joining forces to oversee fashion’s biggest night; Beyonce seen at the 2016 Met Gala
The theme of this year’s event, widely considered the ‘Super Bowl of celebrity red carpets’, is Costume Art; Kidman seen at the 2025 Met Gala
Bolton, who selects the theme, said fashion has ‘the status of art because of, and not in spite of, its relation to the body.’
French luxury fashion house Yves Saint Laurent is also sponsoring the exhibit.
The 2026 Met Gala will also have a host committee that includes committee co-chairs Anthony Vaccarello and Zoe Kravitz, along with members Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Angela Bassett, Gwendoline Christie, Misty Copeland, Elizabeth Debicki, Lena Dunham, Sam Smith, Teyana Taylor and more.
Costume Art will run from May 10, 2026 through January 10, 2027, following the Met Gala on May 4.
The Met Gala is a huge money-maker for the museum, and provides the Costume Institute with its main source of funding.
The 2026 Met Gala marks a major moment because it’s the first one since Wintour technically stepped back from one of her famed roles at Vogue.
The glittering gala’s lead sponsors and honorary co-chairs are Amazon founder and tech billionaire Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sanchez Bezos; The pair seen at the 2024 Met Gala
Anna Wintour has reigned supreme as the chairwoman of the Costume Institute benefit for over 30 years; Wintour seen at the 2025 Met Gala
In June 2025, Wintour announced she was stepping down as the editor-in-chief of American Vogue after 37 years.
The global director for Vogue and global chief content officer at Conde Nast hired Chloe Malle as the new head of editorial content at Vogue.
Wintour has famously been incredibly hands-on with the Met Gala over the years, and is credited with making it the splashy A-list affair it has become, beloved by celebrities like Rihanna, the Kardashians, Blake Lively, Zendaya and more.
Last year, many stars did not attend the Met Gala, and some people thought it was to avoid making a faux pas because of the theme, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, which was centered around the political and aesthetic constructs of Black dandyism.
Read the full article here
