NEW YORK — Meryl Streep, Anne Hathaway and Rihanna turned appearances in London and Mumbai into a final runway before the 2026 Met Gala, joining Vogue’s latest best-dressed roundup as Hollywood’s most watched dressers leaned into sharper, more sculptural fashion, April 28, 2026.
The timing gives the looks extra weight. The Metropolitan Museum of Art said the annual fundraiser will take place May 4, with the Costume Institute exhibition “Costume Art” opening May 10 and the gala dress code set as “Fashion is Art.” That makes this week’s strongest outfits feel less like isolated celebrity moments and more like a preview of the artistic, body-focused styling expected around fashion’s biggest night.
Best dressed stars turned power dressing into a Met Gala preview
Streep and Hathaway made the clearest case for polished authority during the The Devil Wears Prada 2 press cycle. The pair appeared at a London photo call April 24 in Armani Privé tailoring, a choice that nodded to the precision and control long associated with the franchise without simply repeating Miranda Priestly mythology.
Streep’s current fashion surge has been deliberate. A Vogue preview of her press-tour wardrobe reported that stylist Micaela Erlanger was shaping a high-fashion run for the actor ahead of the film’s May 1 release. The result has been a sharper public-facing style chapter for Streep, one built around confidence, structure and a sense of command.
Hathaway has been moving through the same moment with a more playful version of corporate polish. Harper’s Bazaar reported that she stepped out for Good Morning America in a gray Michael Kors skirt suit, cinched with a sculptural Khaite belt and finished with Christian Louboutin pumps, Bulgari jewelry and cat-eye sunglasses. It was not just office wear; it was fashion office wear, sharpened for a press tour that knows exactly how much fans want the line between actor and character to blur.
Rihanna gave the week its sculptural edge
Rihanna brought the Mumbai counterpoint. At a Fenty Beauty event, her sleek black Alaïa dress with a croc-effect bodice gave the “Costume Art” conversation a darker, more sculptural lane after a brighter Mugler look the same week. Marie Claire reported that she wore a canary yellow Mugler set April 24 before switching April 25 to the black Alaïa turtleneck gown, which featured long sleeves, a long skirt and a leather-like bodice panel.
That shift from saturated color to streamlined black captured why Rihanna remains one of the most closely watched dressers before any Met Gala. Her best looks often balance impact and restraint: one day, high-voltage color; the next, a body-conscious silhouette that reads like armor.
Why the best dressed stars story reaches back years
The week’s fashion interest does not come out of nowhere. In a 2021 Entertainment Weekly oral history, The Devil Wears Prada was described as a “best-dressed hit” whose staying power came from its clothes, dialogue and portrayal of women in power. That history helps explain why Streep and Hathaway’s current tailoring lands as more than routine press-tour polish.
Streep’s own relationship to Miranda Priestly has long carried that leadership subtext. In 2016, Vanity Fair looked back at how Streep approached the character as a study of female authority, responsibility and the double standards placed on powerful women. Her 2026 press looks now seem to extend that same idea through clothes: less costume, more command.
Hathaway also brings recent Met credibility to the moment. Vogue covered her 2023 Met Gala return in a custom Versace look with Bulgari jewelry, a styling choice that channeled 1990s supermodel glamour while still speaking directly to the Karl Lagerfeld theme. It was a reminder that Hathaway knows how to translate a fashion reference without letting the reference swallow the look.
Rihanna’s Met history carries even bigger expectations. Vogue’s retrospective noted that she has perfected the art of the Met Gala entrance across 10 appearances, from her 2018 co-chair turn in a papal-inspired Maison Margiela look to her 2025 Marc Jacobs tailoring. Against that backdrop, her latest Alaïa moment feels like part of a longer pattern: Rihanna does not just dress for an event; she sets the temperature around it.
Power looks before the May 4 gala
The strongest pre-Met fashion this week shared a clear theme: clothes that make the body look intentional, framed and in control. Streep and Hathaway did it through tailoring, Rihanna through a darker sculptural silhouette. Together, they joined the best dressed stars conversation at the exact moment when every major red carpet look is being measured against the looming Met Gala standard.
Whether all three stars appear on the Met steps this year has not been confirmed by the cited sources. Still, their latest looks have already entered the pre-gala mood board. In the week before “Fashion is Art,” Streep, Hathaway and Rihanna showed that power dressing can be more than a trend. It can be a thesis.
