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Venus Williams served up a seriously stylish moment at the 2026 Met Gala.
The tennis star, 45, embraced the “Costume Art” theme on the red carpet for fashion’s biggest night on Monday, May 4, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Her sparkling black crystal mesh gown was inspired by Robert Pruitt’s portrait entitled Venus Williams, Double Portrait, commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery. The necklace, nearly identical to the one in the painting, takes after the Venus Rosewater Dish, awarded to the Ladies’ singles winner each year at Wimbledon. Williams won the real thing herself five times during her career.
Venus attended the 2026 Met Gala as a cochair of the event — a role she shares with Nicole Kidman, Beyoncé and Anna Wintour. Venus is following in her sister Serena Williams’ footsteps after the tennis great, 44, cochaired the gala in 2019.
Venus made her Met Gala debut in 2008, turning heads in a metallic strapless Carolina Herrera gown. After more than a decade, she returned to fashion’s biggest night in 2021 in a regal red Prabal Gurung gown. The following year, Venus switched things up in a black Law Roach pantsuit before slipping into a sparkling mirror-disc embroidered Marc Jacobs gown in 2024. Last year, she nodded to her sporty roots in a green Lacoste ensemble reminiscent of a tennis skirt and polo.
Venus’ attendance at the 2026 Met Gala comes nearly five months after her wedding to husband Andrea Preti. The couple — who were first linked in July 2024 and confirmed their engagement in July 2025 — tied the knot in Palm Beach, Florida, in December 2025 after a five-day celebration with family and friends.
“It was just the happiest, most beautiful, sweetest day,” Venus told Vogue at the time.
The day before their lavish nuptials, Venus and Preti, 37, made things official with a courthouse wedding.
“I can’t describe how beautiful, calm, sacred, exciting and exalting it was,” she gushed of her nuptials. “It was just a dream.”
Williams went on to reveal that she and Preti also enjoyed an unofficial ceremony in Italy in September 2025.
“We had this dream to do our wedding in Italy,” she shared. “But we didn’t have enough time to do the paperwork — because I’m a foreigner, it can take about eight months. So we decided to have a second wedding.”
After news broke of Venus and Preti’s marriage, Serena showed her support for her older sister in a sweet social media tribute.
“Watching you step into this next chapter surrounded by love felt like watching the sun rise … steady, powerful and full of promise,” Serena wrote via Instagram in December 2025. “You’ve been my built-in best friend, my protector, my teacher and my reminder to always walk in purpose. Seeing you this happy, this loved, this radiant … it means everything to me.”
She added, “To love, to partnership, to laughter and to a lifetime of choosing each other every single day. I couldn’t be prouder to stand beside you, not just today, but always.”
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