If you watched the livestream of Monday’s Met Gala arrivals on the steps of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and thought at any point, “This feels like a lot” — you were not wrong. The sheer volume of arrivals on the museum steps felt overwhelming at times, especially for an event that had been fraught with controversy before the first guest arrived. But the abundance of stars and the brands they wore also set a record for earned engagement on a red carpet.
The results are in for The Hollywood Reporter‘s Red Carpet Power Rankings, an exclusive partnership with data firm Launchmetrics, revealing that earned engagement for the evening totaled $1.56 billion — that’s a new record for red carpet impact, surpassing the 2025 Met Gala, which totaled $1.3 billion. That number far outpaces every other red carpet of the year, including the March 15 Academy Awards.
For all the promises made on social media to boycott this year’s Met Gala, the opposite seems to have occurred, judging by the numbers across the five categories tracked in the Power Rankings: fashion, top five women and top five men on the carpet, jewelry and watch brands, and accessories. Among fashion brands, for example, the top-10 labels garnered $349.4 million in earned engagement this year, as opposed to $253.4 million at the 2025 Met Gala, an increase of almost 38 percent.
And while it might be easy to assume that the uproar over the event’s honorary co-chairs, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sánchez Bezos, may have impacted the numbers, the statistics don’t bear that out, especially for one historic fashion house in particular — but more on that in a moment.
The Met Gala is the final event of the 2026 spring season for THR’s Red Carpet Power Rankings, which also measure earned engagement of the five major broadcast awards shows between January and March: Critics Choice Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Grammy Awards, Actor Awards (formerly the SAG Awards), and the Academy Awards. Recognized as the industry standard for modern brand measurement, Launchmetrics employs its proprietary Media Impact Value algorithm (MIV) to analyze and rank both brands and stars across the five key categories. The Launchmetrics MIV algorithm assigns a monetary value to every post, social media interaction and editorial story to determine a brand’s influence and earned engagement.
Ultimately, Monday night’s results prove that while the Met Gala may have whipped up a frenzy of negative advance attention, the style conversations that ensued overshadowed any controversy in the end. The rankings also confirm that at least two first-time Met Gala attendees truly have impacted the zeitgeist. Let’s dig into the numbers.
Top 10 Fashion Brands: Saint Laurent Brings the Star Power
Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello arrived Monday night with an impressive roster of stars that included Hailey Bieber, Doja Cat, Blackpink’s Rosé, Charlie XCX, Heated Rivalry’s Connor Storrie and Zoé Kravitz, on the creative director’s arm as co-chairs of the night’s host committee. Fold in Cara Delevingne, Anja Rubik and the return of Kate Moss, back at the Met Gala for the first time since 2023, and that’s a well-curated list. From Kravitz’s black lace gown to Rosé’s dove-embellished strapless dress and Storrie’s shoulder-baring look, it’s easy to understand why Saint Laurent took the top spot with $68.5 million in MIV.
In second place with an MIV of $55.1 million, Chanel‘s list was equally powerful and included Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, Blackpink’s Jennie, A$AP Rocky, and Gracie Abrams, all of whom earned high marks. But Indian fashion model Bhavitha Mandava, who famously opened Chanel’s Métiers d’Art show in December, garnered a wealth of commentary for her Met Gala ensemble, a sheer blouse with silk pants made to look like jeans, a look similar to what Mandava wore to open that Chanel show. Both the trompe l’oeil effect of her trousers and the celebration of that December moment could be considered artful — though without any backstory, Mandava’s look rubbed fashion fans the wrong way as far too casual for the Met Gala, chatter that also may have contributed to the brand’s strong showing.
The opposite was true, however, for Schiaparelli, which with an MIV of $19.9 million finished in a surprising 10th place — so much so, Launchmetrics rechecked the numbers just to be certain. Daniel Roseberry designed the Schiaparelli “falling” gown worn by Kylie Jenner, which was the label’s top look of the night. Sánchez Bezos, meanwhile, earned less than half in MIV of Jenner’s numbers — which surprised anyone who monitored the frenzy of social media that followed her appearance on the carpet in a navy Schiaparelli gown that was a loose homage to John Singer Sargent’s 1884 Portrait of Madame X, which has resided in the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1916. Then again, Jenner currently boasts 385 million Instagram followers, and it’s tough to beat that influence, no matter who you might be.
Top Five Women on the Carpet: Sabrina Carpenter Pays Tribute to Her Favorite Film
Amid attendees who chose paintings and sculpture for their Met Gala looks, Sabrina Carpenter and Dior creative director Jonathan Anderson opted instead to celebrate the art of cinema with her Met Gala dress, which was crafted largely of 35mm strips from a black-and-white film. Even better, it wasn’t just any movie; it was Sabrina, the 1954 Billy Wilder film starring Audrey Hepburn, only her second film after her Oscar-winning turn in 1953’s Roman Holiday. Carpenter noted on the Met Gala carpet that it was her all-time favorite film.
Also on the list: Blackpink members Lisa Manobal in a Robert Wun design, Jisoo in a floral-inspired Dior, and Jennie’s mosaic-llike beaded Chanel gown captured second, third and fourth place, which is also a testimony of the continued power of the K-pop girl group. But don’t count out Blackpink’s rivals Aespa and its acknowledged leader, Karina, a Prada ambassador who took the fifth spot in a custom white satin beaded and embroidered gown and black satin evening cape. The night’s strong numbers are perhaps most evident here: Karina finished in the number-five spot with $17.8 million in MIV, a healthy result that could easily have earned a first-place finish at other high-profile carpets.
Top Five Men on the Carpet: Connor Storrie Owned the Night
A cursory review of social media this week reveals that a few stars continue to enjoy attention from their Met Gala looks four days later — and chief among them is Connor Storrie in Saint Laurent, finishing first among men on the carpet with an MIV of $14 million. With his artful display of androgyny on the museum steps, Storrie has spawned a wealth of videos showing the moment he removed his tuxedo jacket to reveal his shoulder-baring Lavallière top in polka-dot silk muslin. (The top takes its name from the Duchess of La Vallière, who between 1661 and 1667 was the official mistress of King Louis XIV.) His jacket removal also allowed for a better look at the Tiffany & Co. brooch on Storrie’s high neckline, a detail that also put the actor in the number-five spot on the list with an MIV of $3.6 million.
Among other men on the carpet, A$AP Rocky was a delightful surprise in second place, wearing a Chanel design that included a pink wool robe with black satin tuxedo lapels, a custom look by creative director Matthieu Blazy that only fueled speculation about when the iconic French house will go all-in on menswear. Rounding out the top five men: Bad Bunny earning $8.67 million in MIV in a Zara suit and prosthetics that transformed him into what he might look like as an 85-year-old man, an homage to the “Aging Body” section of the museum’s Costume Art exhibition; and Storrie’s co-star, Hudson Williams, who captured $7.9 million in MIV wearing a Balenciaga look designed by creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, who took his cue from a matador jacket that resides in the house’s archives.
Did we mention both Storrie and Williams were first-time Met Gala attendees? That might be a tough act to follow — then again, season two of Heated Rivalry is scheduled to premiere in April 2027, mere weeks before next year’s Met Gala.
Top 10 Jewelry & Watch Brands: Tiffany & Co. and Bulgari Sparkled
The Met Gala could have been called the battle of the bling, with two jewelry houses vying for the top spot: Tiffany & Co. and Bulgari. Ultimately the former edged into the number-one position dressing a cadre of stars that spanned the spectrum. In addition to the aforementioned Storrie, Tiffany & Co. diamonds also were seen on Carey Mulligan, Chase Sui Wonders, Rosé, Gabrielle Union and husband
Dwyane Wade, and Stevie Nicks, attending the Met Gala for the first time and appearing on the steps in a navy John Galliano x Zara gown and diamond jewels that included a pendant necklace in platinum and adorned with a 14-carat crystal opal. The choices resulted in Tiffany & Co.’s first-place finish, with $12.9 million in earned engagement.
Bulgari followed closely behind thanks to two stars in particular: The Devil Wears Prada 2‘s Anne Hathaway, who drew raves for her Michael Kors gown embellished with painted details inspired by Grecian urns and crafted by Kors’ lifelong friend, artist Peter McGough. Among Hathaway’s Bulgari jewels was the sculptural high-jewelry Vimini necklace in 18-karat yellow gold with pavé-set diamonds, a perfect pairing with the gown. Maluma, meanwhile, wore a timepiece that had just debuted at the annual Watches & Wonders trade fair in Geneva two weeks prior: the ultra-thin Octo Finissimo in titanium in a new 37mm case size. Williams and Manobal likewise completed their looks with Bulgari jewels, resulting in the house’s second-place finish with $10.2 million in MIV.
Carpenter accented her Dior with Chopard jewels, while Cartier’s jewelry and watches were seen on stars that included Rami Malek, Jisoo, Jon Batiste and Anderson .Paak, and Swarovski created one-of-a-kind crystal-art designs for Venus Williams and EJAE. Jacob & Co.’s high-wattage designs, meanwhile were seen on Dwayne Johnson, Tyla and Russell Wilson, and Lorraine Schwartz’s diamonds were seen on Sánchez Bezos, Blake Lively and philanthropist Isha Ambani. If you’re wondering about Kantilal Chhotalal, Ambani combined that house’s jewels with Lorraine Schwartz’s diamonds to complete her custom look by Gaurav Gupta; entrepreneur Mona Patel likewise wore pieces by the Mumbai-based jewelry house.
Top Five Accessories: Judith Leiber Gets an Assist from Vogue
Judith Leiber Couture provided its signature bags to nine stars for the Met Gala, resulting in the label’s first-place finish and an MIV of $2.3 million. Among the night’s headlines was the surprise appearance of Lively, wearing Atelier Versace and carrying a custom Judith Leiber minaudière featuring artwork from each of her four children. Carey Mulligan, Angela Bassett, Sutton Foster and sisters Emily and Felicity Blunt also carried evening clutches by the iconic brand.
As proof of the power of social media and tagging, Italian footwear brand Le Silla earned its second-place finished due to one woman: model and influencer Georgina Rodriguez, who posted multiple times to her 71.9 million Instagram followers to highlight every element of her look, from her custom Ludovic de Saint Sernin corset gown and veil to her Chopard diamond earrings and ring and her Le Silla silver platform sandals. Rodriguez earned the lion’s share of Le Silla’s second-place finish, with an MIV of $1.3 million.
Only then do Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo jump into third and fourth place — with MIVs of $1.26 million and $1.24 million, respectively — with Louboutin outfitting stars that included Carpenter, Colman Domingo, Janelle Monae, Keke Palmer and Kim Kardashian. Jimmy Choo designs were seen on A-listers that included Tessa Thompson, Daisy Edgar Jones, Simone Ashley, Emily Blunt and Blue Ivy Carter, who wore the label’s Cinderella-like Alia pumps, fully embellished with crystals. Finally, Stuart Weitzman’s fifth-place finish and an MIV of $1.03 million can be credited to attendees that include Angel Reese, Lux Pascal and Rachel Zegler, as well as Emma Chamberlain, roundly agreed to be among the night’s best-dressed in custom Mugler, which was paired with Weitzman’s Nudist Hollywood platform sandal in a custom-dyed navy.
Next up for the THR x Launchmetrics Power Rankings: the 78th Primetime Emmy Awards, set for Monday, September 14 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
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