3 min readStyle Points is a weekly column about how fashion intersects with the wider world.
When Michael Kors set out to find the perfect New York venue for his splashy 45th anniversary show, only one location would do: the Metropolitan Opera. The designer is a longtime fan of incorporating music into his shows—past seasons have featured Rufus Wainwright warbling Judy Garland favorites and Barry Manilow welcoming us to the Copacabana. And with his fall/winter 2026 collection, he sang an aria to the storied genre, complete with opera coats and glamorous elbow-length gloves.
Michael Kors fall/winter 2026.
Opera might seem as out of left field as last season’s 18th century obsession or fall/winter 2025’s love of all things medieval—but today, the signifiers of high culture have become a luxury in themselves. Chanel is an Exceptional Patron of the Paris Opéra, while Jonathan Anderson recently costumed the Michael R. Jackson opera Complications in Sue, starring Justin Vivian Bond, at Opera Philadelphia. Tristan und Isolde, despite being over 160 years old and nearly five hours long, is a hot ticket; audiences are powering through with the help of caffeine and baby carrots, according to the New York Times Style section. Add to that some influential pop moments like Rosalía and Raye’s recent embraces of opera and classical music and Lady Gaga setting her Mayhem Ball Tour in an opera house. Thanks to the backlash against AI, capital-A art is back.
Lady Gaga’s opera house-inspired set for her Mayhem Ball Tour.
The opera inspiration is also a rebuke to the great minimalist reset, a form of exuberant luxury that can be accessed by throwing on a pair of dramatic opera gloves (à la CBK at her wedding) or an opera cape. (There’s an as-yet-untapped opportunity for some enterprising eyewear designer to create chic opera glasses.) On the fall/winter 2026 runways, we saw an emphasis on sumptuous textures, including rich velvets, intricate embroideries, and opulent jacquards. People want their clothes to look ornate again. The “opera girl aesthetic” has also become a trending search for those hoping to channel their own Christine Daaé.
Balenciaga winter 2026.
Enter (stage left), opera gloves, which were worn in manners both traditional (with 1950s debutante gowns at Richard Quinn) and modern (Joseph Altuzarra teamed a pair with an argyle sweater, while Pierpaolo Piccioli accessorized them with cutout dresses and futuristic Matrix-style sunglasses at Balenciaga). And Conner Ives opened his fall show with author and editor Tish Weinstock in a reconstituted vintage opera-style jacket worn casually over a T-shirt that read “I Work Nights,” a collaboration with the podcast Poog, hosted by Kate Berlant and Jacqueline Novak.
Jennifer Lawrence wears Armani Privé and a Conner Ives opera jacket to the premiere of Die My Love.
On the red carpet, too, both garments made a statement. Jennifer Lawrence donned an opera cape-style jacket from Ives’s fall 2025 collection for the premiere of Die My Love. At this year’s Oscars, Demi Moore and Anne Hathaway accessorized with black opera gloves, while Emma Chamberlain wore a bright-yellow pair from Valentino. And Teyana Taylor has made opera gloves a cornerstone of her red-carpet looks, donning them multiple times while promoting One Battle After Another. For the BAFTAs, a plum-colored Burberry ensemble was set off with Tiffany & Co. jewels, while for the movie’s world premiere, she sported an army-green Marc Jacobs gown, with rings and bracelets worn over her opera gloves. Talk about style worthy of an encore.
Teyana Taylor wears Marc Jacobs at the world premiere of One Battle After Another.