Who Wore the Most Expensive Jewelry at the Met Gala 2026? Every Look Ranked by Price
The most expensive jewelry at the Met Gala 2026 was worn by Sudha Reddy — a $15 million tanzanite necklace featuring the 550-carat Queen of Merelani stone. Jay-Z’s Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime, valued between $6 and $8.5 million, was arguably the single most expensive item on the red carpet overall.
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Join NowThis year’s “Fashion Is Art” dress code gave every attendee a reason to think harder about every element of their look, right down to the last carat.
The result was the most jewelry-forward Met Gala in recent memory — a night where necklaces told stories of heritage, where watches doubled as sculpture, and where the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art became the world’s most expensive display case. Here is every standout piece, ranked by price.
1. Sudha Reddy — $15 Million Tanzanite Necklace
If there was one moment that stopped the Met Gala red carpet cold, it was Sudha Reddy stepping out in a necklace worth more than most people will earn in several lifetimes.
The Indian billionaire philanthropist and businesswoman wore a piece from her personal collection valued at over $15 million, centered on the “Queen of Merelani” — a 550-carat deep violet-blue tanzanite sourced from the Merelani Hills of Tanzania.
The setting was Victorian-finished, giving the stone an antique register that matched the gold embroidery covering her custom Manish Malhotra gown.
The necklace featured trilliant-cut and round-shaped diamonds running along the neckline, with the colossal tanzanite as the pendant. She completed the jewelry story with a 23-carat yellow diamond ring and a 30-carat rose-cut polki diamond ring.
What made Reddy’s look about more than spectacle was the cultural dimension. Her gown drew from Kalamkari, a 3,000-year-old Indian textile tradition known for hand-painted natural dyes and intricate mythological imagery.
More than 90 artisans worked for 3,459 hours to build the look. “Hyderabad is not just my origin; it is a language, a rhythm, a way of being,” she wrote on Instagram before the event. “Through this look, I aspired to translate that sensibility into a form that could exist effortlessly on a global stage while remaining deeply rooted in the South Indian imagination.”
It is also worth noting a pattern. In 2024, Reddy arrived at the Met with a $10 million diamond necklace from the same personal collection. In 2026, she returned with a $15 million piece. The escalation is deliberate, and it is working.
2. Jay-Z — $6 to $8.5 Million Patek Philippe Grandmaster Chime
Jay-Z did not come to play. The rapper arrived beside Beyoncé wearing what is widely regarded as one of the most complicated wristwatches Patek Philippe has ever produced — the Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300G-001. The double-faced white gold timepiece packs 20 complications into its case, including a grande sonnerie, minute repeater, and perpetual calendar.
Estimates on its value vary depending on the source. Wristcheck placed it at $6 million. Elite watch publications put it closer to $8.5 million.
Either figure makes it one of the most expensive single items that walked the Met steps in 2026. Jay-Z has worn this watch before, including at the 65th Grammy Awards in 2023, but standing on the Met steps beside Beyoncé in head-to-toe Olivier Rousteing, the piece hit differently.
He has earned a reputation as one of watch collecting’s most serious players, and the Grandmaster Chime is the clearest evidence of that.
3. Beyoncé — Hundreds of Carats of Chopard Diamonds and Emeralds
Queen Bey was not shy about who reigns supreme. Her head-to-toe bejeweled Olivier Rousteing look came with a crown to match, and that was before accounting for the hundreds of carats of Chopard diamonds and emeralds she wore across her neck, wrists, and ears.
Beyoncé served as a co-chair of the 2026 Met Gala alongside Nicole Kidman, Venus Williams, and Anna Wintour, and this was her first appearance at the event in ten years.
The Chopard suite was never publicly itemized with individual price tags, but the volume of stones and the caliber of the house place the total comfortably in the multi-million dollar range.
Her daughter Blue Ivy also attended, making the night a historic family moment layered on top of an already landmark fashion one.
4. Isha Ambani — Lorraine Schwartz Choker with a 50-Carat Colombian Emerald
Isha Ambani dropped jaws before she even reached the top of the steps. The Indian heiress wore a custom-made Lorraine Schwartz choker built around a 50-carat Colombian emerald with an extraordinary provenance — this very stone was previously worn by Angelina Jolie as a ring at the 2009 Oscars.
The choker added three rows of massive round-cut diamonds around the emerald, and Ambani supplemented it with her own family’s heirloom diamonds. Shoulder-scraping diamond chandelier earrings, an assortment of diamond cocktail rings, and a diamond-and-emerald brooch pinned to her bust completed a look that was, by any measure, a masterclass in inherited luxury.
She arrived in a custom Gaurav Gupta creation that gave her jewels the grand stage they deserved.
5. Dwayne Johnson — $3.3 Million Jacob & Co. “Billionaire III” Watch
Dwayne Johnson selected the Jacob & Co. “Billionaire III” timepiece for his Met Gala wrist, a watch valued at $3.3 million that GQ described as the most expensive ever worn to the event. That distinction technically belongs to Jay-Z’s Patek, but the Billionaire III is still a staggering piece in its own right.
Johnson did not stop at his wrist. He paired the watch with a Manish Malhotra High Jewelry diamond and emerald brooch, bringing a South Asian design house into his look in a way that resonated with the evening’s broader celebration of global craftsmanship.
6. Russell Wilson — $3.9 Million Combined Jacob & Co. Stack
Russell Wilson stacked an impressive portfolio on a single night. His jewelry total came in at an estimated $3.9 million, combining a $1.5 million Jacob & Co. watch with a $2.4 million Ashoka diamond tennis necklace from the same brand. He added further diamonds from Grown Brilliance, Vobara, and Miraki to complete a look that was gilded from top to toe.
His wife Ciara matched his energy, and together they were one of the night’s most consistently dressed couples in terms of sheer jewelry commitment.
7. BLACKPINK’s Lisa — Bulgari 50-Carat Cabochon Sapphire High Jewelry
Lisa arrived in a Robert Wu creation dripping in 66,960 embroidered Swarovski crystals, but the real story was on her neck. Her Bulgari High Jewelry pieces centered on a necklace featuring a 50-carat oval-cut cabochon sapphire — a stone of extraordinary size and depth — set with diamond accents throughout.
As a Bulgari global ambassador, Lisa had access to the house’s finest pieces, and she made a clear choice to let the sapphire speak above everything else, even on a night when her gown was itself a feat of embroidery.
8. Keke Palmer — $1 Million Wempe Necklace, Made by Hand Over 300 Hours
Keke Palmer’s necklace looked, at first glance, like a sleek and simple choice against her red-hot strapless gown. Then the numbers arrived. The Wempe piece featured more than 1,200 diamonds set in 257 grams of 18-karat rose gold. It took craftspeople over 300 hours to complete by hand. The price tag: $1 million.
This is one of the quiet lessons of the 2026 Met Gala jewelry landscape. Restraint is not the same as economy. A clean line can cost as much as a maximalist statement, especially when the craftsmanship underneath is this demanding.
9. Anne Hathaway — Bulgari Gold Necklace, 35 Carats of Pavé Diamonds
As a Bulgari global ambassador, Anne Hathaway had an entire high jewelry vault at her disposal. She chose a dramatic gold necklace set with 35 carats of pavé diamonds — simple in silhouette, extraordinary in material — that coordinated perfectly with her Michael Kors Collection gown.
In a room full of maximalism, Hathaway’s restraint read as confidence. The necklace did not compete with her dress. It completed it.
10. Sabrina Carpenter — Chopard Double Diamond Necklace (Over 100 Combined Carats)
Sabrina Carpenter took the “fashion is art” directive as license to wear her jewelry in a way nobody expected.
She paired her custom Christian Dior gown with two Chopard diamond necklaces — one at 54.84 carats and another at 48.15 carats — but instead of wearing them traditionally, both were draped from the back of her dress and looped through the middle fingers of each hand.
She completed the look with Chopard pear-shaped diamond drop earrings in 18-karat white gold (9.59 carats), two diamond eternity bands, and a bedazzled headpiece with a disc on her forehead stamped with her first name. The total carat count across her look was staggering, but the styling was the real story — jewelry worn as performance, not decoration.
Trend Analysis: What the 2026 Met Gala Jewelry Tells Us
Heritage pieces outranked loaned high jewelry. The most talked-about pieces of the night were not borrowed from brand vaults.
Sudha Reddy and Isha Ambani both reached into their personal collections and brought out stones that carry real history and provenance. The most powerful jewelry at the 2026 Met Gala told stories that a house loan simply cannot replicate.
Men’s jewelry had its biggest moment yet. From Jay-Z’s record-breaking Patek to Russell Wilson’s $3.9 million stack to Dwayne Johnson’s brooch, men at this year’s event wore jewelry with the same intentionality as women.
Brooches, stacked watches, tennis necklaces, and diamond rings appeared across the male guest list in a way that felt like a genuine shift rather than a trend.
South Asian jewels commanded the global stage. Sudha Reddy, Isha Ambani, and the influence of Manish Malhotra High Jewelry on multiple looks signaled something larger. Indian craftsmanship, gemstone heritage, and design vocabulary were not a niche at the 2026 Met Gala. They were central.
Body-as-canvas pieces pushed jewelry beyond the traditional. Sabrina Carpenter’s backlace-through-fingers styling, Emily Blunt’s Mikimoto pearl body necklace, and Irina Shayk wearing vintage watches as chokers and bracelets all pointed in the same direction.
The “Fashion Is Art” theme gave guests permission to treat jewelry as something that interacts with the body rather than simply adorning it.
Watches are now jewelry. The line between horology and fine jewelry has dissolved. Jay-Z’s Patek, Russell Wilson’s Jacob & Co., and Dwayne Johnson’s Billionaire III were worn as fashion statements first and timekeeping instruments second.
Watch publications and fashion publications were covering the same pieces, because the same pieces deserved both conversations.
Full Price Ranking Table: Met Gala 2026 Jewelry and Accessories
| Rank | Celebrity | Piece | Brand | Est. Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sudha Reddy | 550-carat tanzanite necklace | Personal collection | $15M+ |
| 2 | Jay-Z | Grandmaster Chime Ref. 6300G-001 | Patek Philippe | $6–8.5M |
| 3 | Beyoncé | Diamond and emerald suite | Chopard | Undisclosed (multi-million) |
| 4 | Isha Ambani | 50-carat Colombian emerald choker | Lorraine Schwartz | Undisclosed (multi-million) |
| 5 | Dwayne Johnson | “Billionaire III” watch | Jacob & Co. | $3.3M |
| 6 | Russell Wilson | Watch + Ashoka diamond necklace stack | Jacob & Co. | $3.9M combined |
| 7 | BLACKPINK Lisa | 50-carat cabochon sapphire necklace | Bulgari High Jewelry | Undisclosed |
| 8 | Keke Palmer | 1,200-diamond rose gold necklace | Wempe | $1M |
| 9 | Anne Hathaway | 35-carat pavé diamond gold necklace | Bulgari | Undisclosed |
| 10 | Sabrina Carpenter | Double diamond necklace (103 combined carats) | Chopard | Undisclosed |
All valuations are estimates sourced from published reporting. Undisclosed values reflect pieces where no official figure was released by the brand or celebrity.
