Tonight, the 2026 Met Gala kicks off “Costume Art,” the latest exhibition on the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute (the present formally opens on Might 10). For artist Tschabalala Self, it’s a major milestone: She serves as a gala co-chair and can attend the fete for the primary time. To have a good time one of the vital vital moments on the worldwide style calendar, Self enlisted her good friend, designer Brandon Blackwood, to create her robe and magnificence her search for the night. He labored with New York’s Atelier YQS on the costume, his first for the foremost occasion.
It’s a full-circle second for the pair, who had been each born and raised in New York Metropolis, Blackwood in Brooklyn and Self in Harlem, earlier than attending Bard Faculty collectively. Since then, Blackwood has earned approval for his assertion anti-racism purses and has expanded into sneakers and ready-to-wear. He’s additionally designed customized robes for Beyoncé, Serena Williams, and Megan Thee Stallion. Self, in the meantime, has turn into a rising title within the modern artwork world. Main exhibitions of her work, which make use of cloth and combined media to depict the exaggerated silhouettes of her dynamic Black topics, have taken place on the Baltimore Museum of Artwork, Finland’s Espoo Museum of Artwork, and different galleries and establishments. She was additionally awarded London’s Fourth Plinth Prize in 2024 and featured in The Artsy Vanguard 2019. She not too long ago put in a sculpture of an embracing couple, titled Artwork Lovers (2025), on the newly reopened New Museum in Decrease Manhattan. Upfront of their Met Gala second, Blackwood and Self spoke to Artsy about their lengthy friendship and the influences they drew on for the costume, from Degas’s ballerina sculptures to unconventional textiles.
Learn their dialog with Artsy beneath (solutions have been edited for size and readability).
Alina Cohen: How did you two meet?
Brandon Blackwood: We met on the quad in 2009. She was sitting with future pals of mine, and all of us ended up speaking. We had the New York connection. Whenever you go to a small liberal arts faculty upstate, in the midst of nowhere, and also you meet somebody who type of seems to be such as you in an area the place that isn’t the norm, you bond in a short time. I’ve at all times wished a sister, and Tschaba’s like a sister to me.
Tschabalala Self: We lived collectively for one 12 months on this dorm referred to as “Feitler.” It was a vegan co-op but additionally like a black fraternity home on campus.
A.C.: Did you join over artistic pursuits?
B.B.: We’d go to one another’s dorms or, after we had been dwelling collectively, meet within the kitchen and discuss our concepts, which ranged from film scripts to designing. For a second, we wished to launch a model collectively and name it “Self Love.” So that is very full circle.
T.S.: We wished to make gender-neutral clothes that was ready-to-wear, with an elevated road fashion vibe.
A.C.: Is that this the primary time you’re really collaborating?
T.S.: I’d say the second. Brandon designed my marriage ceremony costume final 12 months. That was a giant milestone. Brandon was additionally primarily a bridesmaid. He was with me each step of the way in which.
That was the primary time we collaborated on one thing that was out on the earth, even in our shared neighborhood. However I’ve at all times been capable of discuss to Brandon about concepts.
B.B.: Tschaba has customized items of mine. I even have a customized piece of hers.
A.C.: That’s Tschaba’s portray behind you?
T.S.: Sure, it’s referred to as Dancer (2026). Brandon simply moved. It was a chunk for his new residence.
B.B.: I’ve a number of items of Tschaba’s all through the home. Two characteristic feminine figures, and one is a person and lady collectively. Whenever you stroll in my door, her artwork is the very first thing you see. It’s very highly effective; it makes me really feel good; and it’s low-key just a little attractive: the shapes, the colours. I’m very happy with it. Whenever you encompass your self with belongings you love a lot, you’ll be able to’t assist however incorporate that into your day.
A.C.: How did the Met Gala collaboration come about?
T.S.: I informed Brandon that I used to be going to be on the host committee. I requested if he wished to make my costume for the gala. He was actually excited and simply jumped in.
B.B.: It’s an enormous milestone. We began brainstorming. The theme is “Fashion Is Art,” and I wished the costume to frame on costume however really feel refined…like a interval piece come to life.
T.S.: When Brandon was describing the silhouette, he’d say that it ought to seem like an upside-down tulip: a type present in nature that can be regal, female, and timeless. The robe is tremendous modern, with plenty of totally different silhouettes. It makes me consider Degas’s ballerina sculpture, which is a fusion of this tough bronze sculpture with textile. This garment’s distinctive textile parts actually communicate to me, as a result of textiles are such an vital a part of my observe. The costume is an ideal mixture of each our aesthetics and formal considerations.
A.C.: What are the distinctive textile parts within the costume?
B.B.: Now we have a silk corseted robe with a draped-over skirt held up by this actually lovely, comfortable tulle underlay. I performed round with quantity in an unconventional approach and tried to layer texture in a approach that’s straightforward to learn. We used loads of satin, loads of chiffon. The bodice is a matte chiffon, which is cool. It’s normally shinier, extra uncovered. We’re doing a corset-lace bodice, which is able to hug the physique and assist inform the general story of the costume.
T.S.: Once I placed on the costume, I felt like I used to be embodying an art work. And that matches the theme completely for the gala.
A.C.: Have been there different visible references?
B.B.: I used to be wanting quite a bit at Tschaba’s work. She loves to combine textures, loves a kooky mash-up of issues. I wished to translate that. You’ll see how the skirt drapes over the tulle, how what we're doing is unconventional, like her art work.
T.S.: The costume additionally creates an emphasised silhouette to the physique by building and costume. This actually elevated, female hourglass form can be a throughline in my observe. That’s a peak image of magnificence for us, for our background. We’re accentuating that. I’m virtually turning into an embodiment of the themes in my work. I like the form.
B.B.: It’s actually extreme. Selecting a cinched lace corset, dropping the place the skirt begins so that you simply get the hip. You get the bust. You get the waist. There’s loads of physique.
A.C.: Are there parts that really feel very “New York?”
T.S.: Proper now within the Hudson Valley, the place Brandon and I met, there are tulips all over the place. A lot of our reminiscences are right here. There’s a sure lightness and simple magnificence that remind me of this area. There’s a throughline, the town to right here, and again.
B.B.: The costume nonetheless has a extreme second that feels true to a local New Yorker. It’s Hudson-meets-Harlem.
T.S.: That’s my complete factor!
A.C.: Inform me in regards to the colour.
B.B.: We selected a very muted, attractive grey. That is the primary grey piece I’ve ever made. It’s cool and impactful and appears lovely on her pores and skin tone. We’ll add jewellery, some diamond detailing. It’s gonna be a second.
A.C.: Footwear?
T.S.: Grey Jimmy Choo. Quite simple. Pointed-toe pump, one thing that enhances the costume however doesn’t take any consideration away.
A.C.: What does it imply to work collectively for the Met Gala?
T.S.: I really feel blessed I’m engaged on this with a good friend. And never simply any good friend. I’ve identified him since I used to be 20, and Brandon was a young person. Our brains weren’t completed rising! I’m excited and likewise nervous. It’s good to have a good friend who’s additionally household—to do it collectively. It’s enjoyable and I really feel extra carefree, extra myself. It’s one other artistic second we are able to share. It’s actually lovely.
