Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce were noticeably absent from the 2026 Met Gala.
Swift and Kelce, both 36, did not walk the red carpet during the Monday, May 4, event at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art.
The couple’s appearance would have come more than a decade after she made her debut at fashion’s biggest night in 2008. While adhering to the “Superheroes: Fashion and Fantasy” theme, Swift rocked a gold beaded dress with a drop waist and thin straps from Badgley Mischka. She completed the look with chunky earrings and a silky clutch and styled her hair in tight curls.
Swift went on to attend the soiree in 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014 and 2016, when she served as a cochair for the event. For the 2016 Met Gala, Swift turned heads while dressing to the “Manus x Machina: Fashion in an Age of Technology” theme in a Louis Vuitton mini dress with black strappy heels. Kelce, for his part, has never been to the Met Gala.
Although Swift and Kelce have been together since 2023, the annual event would have served as the couple’s red carpet debut. In recent months, the pair have been soaking up their engagement, which they announced via social media in August.
“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” Swift captioned an Instagram post at the time alongside photos of Kelce down on one knee.
While Swift and Kelce prepare to tie the knot, a source exclusively told Us Weekly in an April cover story that the couple have invited about 150 people to their nuptials.
“It won’t be a huge wedding, but there will be many celebrities,” the insider said, while a second source added, “They’ve gone back and forth between inviting everyone and keeping it small and private. As of now, they’ve scaled it down. It’s no longer going to be a massive blowout.”
The first source noted that Swift and Kelce have opted against mailing hard copy invitations and “aren’t even sure they will.” but the insider shared that “their closest friends and family know the venue and the date,” even “if nothing formal has been sent out.”
