Lisa Made Met Gala History as Jisoo and Ahn Hyo-seop Hit the Carpet

BLACKPINK's Lisa was officially part of the 2026 Met Gala host committee, making her the first K-pop artist ever named to that inner circle as New York's biggest fashion night unfolded on May 4. According to ELLE's published committee list, Lisa appeared alongside Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz while the magazine also confirmed the Costume Institute's Costume Art exhibition and the "Fashion Is Art" dress code. That matters beyond a clean headline because the host committee is part of how the Met signals whose cultural capital matters inside the room. K-pop is no longer just furnishing viral red carpet moments for Western luxury houses. It is now being written into the event's power structure itself, and the carpet quickly backed that up with visible Korean presence from Jisoo and Ahn Hyo-seop.

Lisa's committee spot is the real story

Lisa's host committee role is the real separator here because the Met Gala committee is not the same as a guest list. According to ELLE, the 2026 committee includes culture figures like Teyana Taylor, Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat, Sam Smith, and Lisa, with Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz co-chairing that group. STARNEWS went further and called Lisa the first K-pop artist to earn the distinction, which gives the milestone its sharper industry framing. For BLACKPINK, it is another signal that the group's fashion capital keeps expanding beyond comeback headlines like our DEADLINE review and Lisa's own solo buzz in our recent album coverage. We have seen idols dominate front rows and ambassador campaigns before. Committee status is different. Committee status says the Met is treating Lisa as part of the room that shapes the narrative, not just a celebrity wearing the clothes.

Jisoo and Ahn Hyo-seop widen Korea's footprint on the carpet

Jisoo and Ahn Hyo-seop gave that structural milestone real carpet weight once the event started. Our Jisoo recap tracked how her Dior debut translated years of ambassador status into a clean top-tier fashion moment, while our Ahn Hyo-seop recap broke down how his custom Valentino look turned a red scarf into the night's sharpest Korean menswear signature. That matters because Lisa's committee role would have felt symbolic on its own. As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, all four BLACKPINK members attended the same Met Gala year for the first time, so the moment landed as a broader Korean fashion surge across idol and actor lanes. Put simply, this was not one celebrity carrying the K-culture brief at the Met. It was a wider Korean presence landing through institutional access, luxury styling, and headlines people could actually remember the next morning.

K-pop is moving from invitation status to influence status

Korean stars have been building toward this for years, but 2026 gave the story a sharper edge. NextShark's look at Asian celebrities on the 2023 Met Gala carpet is a useful reminder that representation was already growing before this year. What felt new then was visibility. What felt new this week was structural relevance. According to ELLE's committee rollout, Lisa was not just another confirmed attendee. She was part of the public-facing group used to frame the event around Costume Art and "Fashion Is Art." Jisoo's Dior debut and Ahn Hyo-seop's Valentino arrival made that shift easier to see in real time. The carpet still lives or dies by the clothes, but the bigger takeaway is harder to miss now. Korean celebrities are not just invited to fashion's biggest night. They are helping define how the night is framed.