If you watched Monday’s live broadcast of the Met Gala on the steps of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art and at any point thought, “This seems like a lot” — you weren’t wrong. The sheer volume of arrivals on the museum steps seemed overwhelming at times, especially for an event that was fraught with controversy before the first guest arrived. But the abundance of stars and brands they wore also set a record for engagement gained on the red carpet.
Results in l Hollywood ReporterRed Carpet Power Rankings, an exclusive partnership with data firm Launchmetrics, revealed that total engagement earned for the evening reached $1.56 billion — a new record for red carpet influence, surpassing the 2025 Met Gala, which totaled $1.3 billion. This number far exceeds all other red carpets this year, including the Oscars on March 15.
For all the promises made on social media to boycott this year’s Met Gala, the opposite appears to have happened, judging by the numbers across the five categories tracked in the power rankings: fashion, the five best women and the five best men on the carpet, jewelry and watches, brands, and accessories. Among fashion brands, for example, the top 10 brands had $349.4 million in earned engagement this year, versus $253.4 million at the 2025 Met Gala, an increase of nearly 38 percent.
And while it might be easy to assume that the buzz around the event’s honorary co-chairs, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sanchez Bezos, may have affected 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 spring 2026 season THR’Red Carpet Power Rankings, which also measure engagement earned at the five major broadcast award shows between January and March: Critics’ Choice Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Grammy Awards, Actor Awards (formerly SAG Awards), and Academy Awards. Recognized as the industry standard for measuring modern brands, Launchmetrics uses its proprietary Media Impact Value (MIV) algorithm to analyze and rank both brands and stars across five key categories. The Launchmetrics MIV algorithm assigns a monetary value to every post, social media interaction and editorial story to determine brand impact and earned engagement.
In the end, Monday night’s results prove that although the Met Gala generated a wave of negative advance attention, the stylistic conversations that followed ultimately overshadowed any controversy. The rankings also confirm that at least two first-time Met Gala attendees have truly influenced the zeitgeist. Let’s dig into the numbers.
Top 10 Fashion Brands: Saint Laurent Brings Star Power
Saint Laurent’s Anthony Vaccarello arrived on Monday night with an impressive list of stars including Hailey Bieber, Doja Cat, Blackpink’s Rosé, Charli XCX, “hot competition”Connor Story and Zoe Kravitz, on the creative director’s arm as co-chairs of tonight’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 this is a well-curated list. From Kravitz’s black lace dress to Rosie’s dove-embellished strapless dress and Storey’s off-the-shoulder look, it’s easy to understand why Saint Laurent took the top spot with $68.5 million at MIV.
In second place with $55.1 million, Chanel’s list was equally strong and included Nicole Kidman, Margot Robbie, Blackpink’s Jennie, A$AP Rocky, and Gracie Abrams, all of whom received high scores. But Indian model Pavitha Mandava, who opened Chanel’s Métiers d’Art show in December, also garnered a wealth of comments for her Met Gala ensemble, a sheer top with silk pants made to look like jeans, a look similar to what Mandava wore to open the Chanel show. Both the effect of her trick pants and the celebration of that December moment can be considered artistic — though without any backstory, Mandava’s look rubbed fashionistas the wrong way as much as it was too casual for the Met Gala, gossip that may have also contributed to the brand’s strong showing.
However, the opposite was true for Schiaparelli, which surprisingly placed 10th with an MIV of $19.9 million — so much so that Launchmetrics re-examined the numbers just to be sure. Daniel Rosebery designed Kylie Jenner’s “plunge” Schiaparelli dress, which was the brand’s best look of the night. Sanchez-Bezos, meanwhile, earned less than half the MIV numbers of Jenner’s — which surprised anyone watching the social media frenzy that followed her appearance on the carpet in a navy Schiaparelli gown that was a loose homage to John Singer Sargent’s 1884 cut. Portrait of Mrswhich has been at the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1916. Again, Jenner currently boasts 385 million followers on Instagram, and that influence is hard to beat, no matter who you are.
Top Five Women on the Carpet: Sabrina Carpenter pays tribute to her favorite movie
Amid attendees who chose paintings and sculptures for their Met Gala looks, Sabrina Carpenter and Dior’s creative director Jonathan Anderson instead chose to celebrate the art of cinema with her Met Gala dress, which was made largely from 35mm strips of black-and-white film. Better yet, it wasn’t just a movie. He was SabrinaBilly Wilder’s 1954 film starring Audrey Hepburn, only her second film after her Oscar-winning role in 1953. Roman holiday. Carpenter noted on the Met Gala carpet that this was her favorite movie of all time.
Also on the list: Blackpink members Lisa Manobal in Robert Won, Jisoo in a floral-inspired Dior dress, and Jennie in a mosaic-like embroidered Chanel dress took second, third and fourth place, which is also a testament to the K-Pop girl group’s continuing strength. But don’t count out Blackpink’s rival Aespa and its recognized leader, Karina, a Prada ambassador who took fifth place in a custom embroidered white satin gown and black satin evening gown. Tonight’s strong numbers are perhaps most evident here: Carina finished in fifth place with $17.8 million in MIV, a healthy result that could have easily earned her the top spot on other notable carpetbags.
Top Five Men on the Mat: Connor Story owned the night
A quick check of social media this week reveals that some stars are still enjoying the attention for their Met Gala appearance four days later — most notably Connor Story in Saint Laurent, who took first place among men on the carpet with $14 million. With his artistic display of androgyny on the museum steps, Storrie has produced a large series of videos showing the moment he removes his tuxedo jacket to reveal an off-the-shoulder Lavallière shirt made of dotted silk muslin. (The crest takes its name from the Duchess of La Vallière, who between 1661 and 1667 was the official mistress of King Louis XIV.) Removing his jacket also allowed a better look at the Tiffany & Co. brooch. On Storrie’s high neckline, a detail that also placed the actor and the jewelry house in fifth place on the list with an MIV of $3.6 million.
Among the other men on the carpet, A$AP Rocky was a pleasant surprise in second place, wearing a Chanel creation that included a pink wool robe with black satin lapels, a custom look by creative director Matthieu Blazy that also sparked speculation about when the iconic French house would turn to menswear. In fifth place were men: “Bad Bunny,” who received $8.67 million from MIV wearing a Zara suit and prosthetics that transformed him into what he might look like as an 85-year-old man, a tribute to the “Aging Body” section of the museum. Fashion art exhibition; And Storrie star Hudson Williams, who earned $7.9 million in MIV wearing a Balenciaga look designed by creative director Pierpaolo Piccioli, who was inspired by a 1947 bullfighter jacket found in the house’s archives.
Did we mention that both Storey and Williams were first-time Met Gala attendees? This may be a tough act to follow – then again, season two of Hot competition It is scheduled to premiere in April 2027, a few weeks before next year’s Met Gala.
Top 10 Jewelry and Watch Brands: Tiffany & Co. And Bulgari Sparkled
The Met Gala could have been called a battle of the jewelry, with two jewelry houses vying for first place: Tiffany & Co. And Bulgari. In the end, the former took the top spot wearing a cadre of stars that spanned the spectrum. In addition to the aforementioned Storrie, Tiffany & Co. diamonds have been seen. Also on Carey Mulligan, Chase Sui Wonders, Rosé, Gabrielle Union and husband Dwyane Wade, and Steve Nicks, who attended the Met Gala for the first time and appeared on the steps in a navy John Galliano x Zara gown and diamond jewelry that included a platinum diamond-embellished necklace and a 14-karat crystal opal. The selections led to Tiffany & Co. In first place, with $12.9 million in earned participation.
Bvlgari followed closely behind thanks to two stars in particular: The devil wears prada 2Anne Hathaway, who impressed in her Michael Kors dress embellished with Greek urn-inspired details and hand-painted by lifelong friend of Kors, artist Peter McGough. Among Hathaway’s Bvlgari jewelry was the sculptural Vimini high jewelry necklace made of 18-karat yellow gold and set with pavé diamonds, which went perfectly with the dress. Meanwhile, Maluma wore a watch that debuted at the annual Watches & Wonders trade show in Geneva two weeks ago: the ultra-thin titanium Octo Finissimo in a new 37mm case. Likewise, Williams and Manopal completed their looks with Bulgari jewelry, earning the house a second place finish with $10.2 million at the MIV.
Carpenter accessorized Dior with Chopard jewels, while Cartier jewelery and watches were seen on stars including Rami Malek, Jisoo, Jon Batiste and Anderson. PAC, Swarovski create unique crystal art designs for Venus Williams and EJAE. Meanwhile, Jacob & Co.’s high-wattage designs were seen on Dwayne Johnson, Tyla and Russell Wilson, and Lorraine Schwartz diamonds were seen on Sanchez Bezos, Blake Lively and philanthropist Isha Ambani. If you’re wondering about Kantilal Chhotalal, Ambani paired that house’s jewels with Lorraine Schwartz diamonds to complete her custom look designed by Gaurav Gupta; Entrepreneur Mona Patel also wore pieces from the Mumbai-based jewelery house.
Top Five Accessories: Judith Leiber Gets Help From Vogue magazine
Judith Leiber Couture presented its signature bags to nine stars at the Met Gala, earning the label first place and an MIV of $2.3 million. Among the evening’s headlines was a surprise appearance by Lively, wearing an Atelier Versace dress and carrying a Judith Leiber handbag featuring artwork from each of her four children, details that were discussed in an article. Vogue magazine A story about the actress’s appearance. Carey Mulligan, Angela Bassett, Sutton Foster and sisters Emily and Felicity Blunt also carried evening handbags from the famous brand.
As a testament to the power of social media and hashtags, Italian shoe brand Le Silla took second place thanks to one woman: model and influencer Georgina Rodriguez, who posted multiple times to her 71.9 million Instagram followers highlighting every element of her look, from her custom Ludovic de Saint Sernin corset dress and veil to her Chopard diamond earrings and ring and silver Le Silla Embrace platform sandals. Rodriguez took 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 in the Power Rankings to third and fourth places – with MIVs of $1.26 million and $1.24 million respectively – with Louboutin grooming stars including Carpenter, Colman Domingo, Janelle Monae, Keke Palmer and Kim Kardashian. Jimmy Choo’s designs were seen on A-listers who included Tessa Thompson, Daisy Edgar-Jones, Simone Ashley, Emily Blunt and Blue Ivy Carter, who wore Alia’s Cinderella-like pumps, completely embellished with crystals. Finally, credit can go to Stuart Weitzman for fifth place and the $1.03 million MIV prize for attendees that included Angel Reese, Lux Pascal and Rachel Zegler, as well as Emma Chamberlain, who were all but agreed to be among the night’s best dressed in a custom Mugler design, which was paired with Weitzman’s custom-dyed navy Nudist Hollywood platform sandals.
Next to THR x Launchmetrics Power Rankings: The 78th Emmy Awards, scheduled for Monday, September 14, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
