It’s the first Monday in May (as you may have heard) and spring is in full swing—not to mention the 2026 Met Gala. That means birds chirping, flowers blooming, and seasonal allergies. Sartorially, it of course means the Met Gala. Naturally, we’d think people would embrace the seasonal tropes: wearing florals (groundbreaking yadda yadda), lighter shades, airy fabrics, and maybe even a little bit of exposed skin.
So imagine our surprise when the men of the 2026 Met Gala used the red carpet as a full-throated endorsement of warm-weather leather. Hulking leather coats, studded leather matching sets, hell, even cropped leather coats or a touch via lapels. With the dress code “Fashion Is Art,” we were expecting the guys to let their freak flags fly—and some of them did (we see you Benito!). But what we didn’t expect was the preponderance of black, kinky leather. Like, a lot of leather.
Bill Skarsgård in Thom Browne, Patrick Schwarzenegger in Public School, Romeo Beckham in Burberry leather lapels, Nicholas Hoult in head-to-toe Prada leather. And on and on. It was an unexpected turn of events, but not necessarily one we were unhappy about. Even some of the women joined in: Hoyeon got in on the action in a Louis Vuitton peplum.
Here, take a look at some of our favorite leather looks of the night. Embrace it now before summer sets in.
