Given the dress code of “Fashion Is Art,” we were ready to see plenty of references to famous designers, era-defining artworks and a few deep cuts on the 2026 Met Gala red carpet. Among the first guests to enter on Monday evening was Lauren Sánchez Bezos – one of the night’s top sponsors along with her billionaire husband Jeff Bezos – wearing what was, at first glance, an understated (if not boring) Schiaparelli gown. In fact, Sánchez’s dress refers to John Singer Sargent’s “Madame X,” one of the Met’s most famous paintings.againone of the most controversial of its day.
Image: Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
In 1884, Sargent exhibited his painting “Madame X,” which depicted the well-known socialite Virginie Amélie Avegno Gautreau, and was immediately met with a backlash from his contemporaries. Sargent originally painted “Madame X” with the belt of her right dress over her shoulder, which would have been particularly embarrassing at the time. This fallen belt has been interpreted as incriminating her character, condemning her for her perceived behavior at a time when women’s modesty was paramount. As both Gautreau and Sargent faced increasing ridicule, the American artist repainted “Madame X” with the sitter’s shoulder strap carefully returned to its intended location.
Sánchez’s interpretation of the evening dress code “Fashion Is Art” was a literal recreation of Gautreau’s original dress. But what caught my attention was the inclusion of a fallen belt from the original painting, rather than the straight belt seen on the walls of the Met today.
“The inspiration for the coat is Sargent’s story ‘Madame X,’ and how small details, like a fallen jeweled belt, evoked a strong public reaction,” reads a press statement from Schiaparelli. “Daniel Roseberry took the spirit of the sketched Sargent dress and made it completely his own; the silhouette nods to the painting, and the pearl and crystal strap is a quiet reference to the original.”
On its own, it brings “Madame X,” a painting shrouded in its unpleasant history, at the moment it feels pointed to the political situation of our country, but if it is made by a confederate billionaire who rubs elbows with the oligarchs of our nation, the statement falls flat.
Ever since the Met announced that the Bezoses would fund this year’s celebration and were given top billing as honorary participants, there was a strong backlash and announcements of boycotts. Anti-Bezos protests erupted across New York City, with some calling this year’s gala the “Bezos Ball.” Last week, an activist group called Everybody Hates Elon even left nearly 300 bottles of fake urine inside the Met because of complaints by Amazon employees about peeing in the bottles.
Perhaps Sánchez intended his reference to imitate “Madame X’s” quiet strength in the face of ridicule, but any attempt to compare the polite chaos that tarnished Madame X’s reputation with Sánchez’s exalted status sounds irrevocably futile.
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