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Stars walking the carpet at the Peacock Theater in downtown Los Angeles name-checked Madonna more than any other as the person they were most eager to see. “She’s the icon,” Normani explained, while Lucky Daye — wearing a fabulous suit from Campillo’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection — happily launched into “Like a Virgin” with two red-carpet reporters from CBS Los Angeles. “I love Madonna! She’s my girl,” he added.

Much of the night’s style reflected that idea as well. Corsets, bustiers and lingerie details were key to many red-carpet looks, perhaps a nod to Madonna’s “Like a Virgin” performance at the inaugural MTV VMAs in 1984. Bebe Rexha admitted on the carpet that the iconic moment indeed was her inspiration for her look, a black lace corset with train by Dreaming Elie.

Of course, if anyone could rival Madonna for attention at the 2026 VMAs, surely it was Taylor Swift, who arrived five minutes before the broadcast kicked off and caused an amusing moment of confusion among the photographers on the carpet: “Miss Swift?” cried one, trying to get her attention. “Wait, should we call you Mrs. Kelce now?” Ms. Swift did not answer, but the photogs got their shots.

More than any other awards show, the MTV VMAs reflect a theatricality and undeniable whimsy among the night’s stars, who eschew all rules and dress as they please. The result is a hodgepodge of style that runs the gamut, from overtly sexy to fashion-forward to tailored elegance. Here are 10 looks that lit up social media.

Teyana Taylor in Zuhair Murad

A best collaboration nominee for “Hard Part” with Lucky Daye, Taylor was an early arrival at the 2026 VMAs, also because she was the night’s first presenter. The musician and actress loves to push the envelope with her style, and that was true of her choice here, a sheer black coat with feathered collar, cuffs and hem, from Zuhair Murad’s Fall 2026 haute-couture collection.

Taylor Swift in Tamara Ralph Couture

With nine nominations and receiving the night’s inaugural Artist Director Honors, Swift timed her arrival at the 2026 VMAs beautifully, as the night’s final and most anticipated arrival. After all, this is her first major carpet appearance since she and Travis Kelce married in July, and while he was 2,740 miles away playing (and besting) the Miami Dolphins, Swift looked the picture of elegance in a Fall 2026 gown with a dropped asymmetrical waist, by Tamara Ralph Couture. She completed the look with jewels by Leviev and Greece-based Etho Maria.

Lisa in Quine Li and The Attico

Among the night’s most dramatic looks, this crimson gown and coat worn by Blackpink’s Lisa needed to be seen on the carpet — not only because it was undeniably fabulous, but also because she changed immediately upon entering the Peacock Theater. The pairing consisted of a faux-fur coat by New York-based Quine Li and a matching gown with corset boning by Gilda Ambrosio and Giorgia Tordini, designers and creative directors of Milan-based The Attico. She accessorized the look with Rainbow K’s Tribal earring in 18-karat white gold and diamonds. Seemingly just minutes later, the actress and musician was onstage accepting her fourth Moon Person trophy as a solo artist, this year for best pop video, now wearing an ensemble by by Russian designer Daniil Antsiferov.

Troye Sivan in Erdem

Gender fluidity also was a theme on the 2026 VMAs carpet, seen in Troye Sivan’s look, which originally made its debut last week in London during the Spring/Summer 2027 collections. The mix of masculine and feminine in the design resulted in an elegant, forward tuxedo accented with a pannier of ostrich feathers and a train in satin and tulle. Sivan completed his look with Spinelli Kilcollin jewels.

Chloe Bailey in House of Idan

Sheer beaded gowns are now a VMAs staple, and this year Chloe Bailey turned heads in this design that blended crystals and mirrored beading, by Israel-based House if Idan. She paired the look with an assortment of diamond jewels by Chopard and Miraki.

Normani in Robert Wun

Normani looks thoroughly covered up in this bronze gown from Robert Wun’s Fall 2025 haute-couture collection, but turning on the carpet revealed a low open back with delicate lacing. The London-based designer included the dramatic floral brooch at the shoulder, as well as sheer sleeves that finished in gloves. She completed her look with shoes by Daccori.

Sombr in custom ERL

Fur likewise reigned on the carpet at the 2026 VMAs — a bit of a head scratcher knowing it was 86 degrees in Los Angeles and people were complaining about the heat upon arrival at the Peacock Theater. But those stalwarts who desired the glamour of faux fur pressed on, including Sombr, who wore a custom take on a Fall/Winter 2026 look by ERL, based in Venice Beach. Designed by ERL founder Eli Russell Linnetz, the look consisted of a faux fur skunk coat paired with flared leather trousers cut from deadstock fabric, then layered with handmade silver and pearl skate chain by artist Tom Binns. Linnetz crafted with crystal and stone “SEX” belt buckle from pieces he’s collected over the years, according to a statement from the label.

Paris Hilton in The Blonds

Amid the profusion of black and a splash of crimson here and there, silver likewise dominated the night’s color palette, notably in this futuristic look worn by Paris Hilton and designed by The Blonds, who definitely know how to inject drama and whimsy into every design. The minidress with draped neckline and side cutouts is from the designers’ Fall 2025 collection, while the boots take their cue from their 20th-anniversary show in New York this month, which included Hilton as a model.

Adam Lambert in custom Charles De Vilmorin Couture

On the carpet, Lambert noted that his appearance at the 2026 VMAs and the July release of his self-titled album, ADAM, are both rooted in honoring the queer creatives who have always inspired him. His look Sunday night paid tribute to fashion icon André Leon Talley, the renowned Vogue editor and contributor who died in 2022. Lambert worked with Paris-based designer Charles de Vilmorin, who custom-designed both the dramatic cape in black silk taffeta and the feathered headpiece, which takes its cue from an iconic design by famed milliner Philip Treacy.

Bebe Rexha in Dreaming Elie

From the lace corset to the diamond cross necklace, Bebe Rexha was all in with paying tribute to Madonna with her look at the 2026 VMAs. The corset and lace train are from Dreaming Elie’s Fall/Winter 2026 collection, which the artist paired with Jimmy Choo’s Scarlett lace boots and diamond jewels by Loree Rodkin. %!s()

Sombr, who was wearing George Michael’s own jacket, took on “Faith” and “Father Figure,” Raye sang “Knew You Were Waiting,” Teddy Swims tackled “Careless Whisper,” and Adam Lambert finished the performance off with “Freedom 90,” joined by young U.K. singers Meek and Saint Harison.

The tribute to the singer, who died a decade ago on Christmas, commemorates the upcoming 40th anniversary of his 1987 blockbuster debut solo album, Faith. It also coincides with The Faith Tour, a live album out Nov. 6, and a feature-length film, George Michael: The Faith Tour, which will open in cinemas around the world on Dec. 11.

Michael was a VMAs favorite, earning four Moon Persons in his lifetime. He was nominated 16 times and he notably won Best Direction in a Video for co-directing “Father Figure” with Andy Morahan. Madonna, who made her return to perform on the VMAs stage for the first time in 23 years on Sunday, presented him with the Video Vanguard Award back in 1989.

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It was Raye’s second performance She was nominated twice this year, including in the Song of the Year category for “Where Is My Husband!” Sombr’s appearance coincided with three VMA nominations. Swims was not nominated for any 2026 VMAs but will release a new album, Ugly, in January. Adam Blackstone, who put together Dr. Dre’s and Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime shows, among others, served as music director for the George Michael tribute.

The Snoop Dogg-hosted VMAs, which also included a Dolly Parton tribute, aired on CBS and MTV. If you missed it, the whole show will also be available to stream on Paramount+. %!s()

Since this is the last episode before the finale, Lanterns delivers some pretty big moments, including a shocking cliffhanger at the end — and it also solves a mystery that didn’t really need to be solved at all.

Note: Major spoilers follow for Lanterns season 1, episode 7.

What is inside Hal Jordan’s vault?

Episode 6 revealed that Hal rented a storage unit in Rushville. Inside is a large alien vault similar to the one he used to store his lantern at his mansion. John and Kerry (Kelly Macdonald) aren’t able to open it since it requires that Hal identify himself aloud. A voicemail recording on Kerry’s phone can’t fool it, which is why John tricked Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) into having Hal buried with his uniform and ring — all so John could dig up the body and retrieve the ring.

The Hal-ogram agrees to open the vault, but only if John lets him meet Kerry first. Inside the vault they find very little: a bag packed with supplies, including a handgun and a canteen, along with one of the black spheres we’ve seen throughout the season that can create portals. John describes the supplies as “stuff for a hike.” But considering the flashbacks we see during this episode, the idea of a “Jordan boy” having some kind of safe he leaves behind after his death takes on a whole new meaning.

Image: HBO

Episode 7 opens in 1975. A young Hal gets into trouble after refusing to surrender the ball during a baseball game, forcing a forfeit for his team. He’s sitting in a classroom clutching the ball when his father, Martin Jordan, arrives. Martin promptly gets into a fight with the coach while defending his son.

Afterward, Martin gives Hal a strange key. He explains that before Hal’s grandfather left to fly in a war, he placed money, keepsakes, and other private items inside a safe and gave Martin the key to this “failsafe.” Martin now passes his own key to Hal, describing it as part of the Jordan family legacy. The episode initially presents this like a tradition among military men preparing for the possibility that they might not return home.

Much later in the episode, however, Hal reveals the painful truth: Martin gave Hal the key several months before dying by suicide. Inside the safe, Hal found money, coins, photographs, and a note explaining that his father had lived with worsening pain and believed his family would be better off without him. Hal’s grandfather also died by suicide.

“It’s the same pain passed down generation to generation,” Hal says, explaining what Martin really meant by the “Jordan boys’ legacy.” Hal’s storage unit feels particularly grim given that extra context.

Because the Hal-ogram is wary of Kerry, he and John bring the portal to the old water tower in town and open it there, proceeding through it to an alien planet.

What alien planet do John and the Hal-ogram visit?

Image: HBO Max

On the other side of the portal, John and the Hal-ogram find a flat desert littered with bones. An enormous abandoned city hangs in the sky, while a distant island and lighthouse appear to be the only structures still accessible from the ground. John experiences déjà vu because he has effectively been there before.

The episode never gives us the planet’s name, but John confirms that it’s the destroyed homeworld of Antaan (Paul Ben-Victor). Back in episode 2, when John is abducted by Antaan’s henchmen, they use some kind of alien device to inject John with the memories of the dying alien civilzation.

“We weren’t the only ones looking for a Manhunter,” John explains to the Hal-ogram. “I got grabbed by this guy Antaan. He told me he was the last of his kind. I didn’t believe him, so he injected me with his people’s experience, and I felt it. Like it happened to me.”

John remembers being inside a city as gas spread through it. Anyone who breathed the substance became so frightened that they attacked one another, killed themselves, or leaped to their deaths. At the time, John did not understand why so many people were falling.

“I just didn’t know the city was in the sky,” he says. “I didn’t understand why they were jumping. Now I know.”

Image: HBO

The shapeshifting Manhunter took the form of Zoe (Poorna Jagannathan) on Earth. Antaan revealed in episode 5, however, that before that they were in a romantic relationship and failed to conceive a child. (This would have been sometime before 1996, when Abin Sur crashed on Earth with the Manhunter and the Green Lantern ring found Hal.) Because Antaan blames the Manhunter for the genocide of his people — and because Zoe herself admitted to John that her programming compelled her to do it — we’re led to believe that she somehow orchestrated this gas.

Traces of that substance remain in the planet’s clouds and water. While John and the Hal-ogram cross the lake on what looks like a man-made boat, a storm causes John to hallucinate. He sees his abusive father and his younger self, both accusing him of being afraid. When John falls into the water, the Hal-ogram manifests and pulls him back on the boat, saving his life.

The greater mystery here is why Hal maintained a private portal to this planet. Was he investigating the destruction of Antaan’s people before the Rushville incident? Or did he begin sometime after he got out of jail? Whatever the explanation, John and the Hal-ogram are surprised when they get to the island and find Sinestro trapped there inside a building appears to be emitting the gas into the atmosphere.

How did Sinestro get to Antaan’s planet?

Image: HBO

Back in episode 6, Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion) told John that someone had broken Sinestro out of “Spacekaban” (Space Azkaban), the extraterrestrial prison where Hal visited him earlier in the series. Now we know that he ended up stranded on Antaan’s dead world. Since Hal had easy access to the portal, does that mean he’s responsible for breaking Sinestro out? If so, why?

Sinestro knew more than Hal about the Manhunters and the Guardians’ buried crimes in 2016, so it’s possible Hal did this so he could learn more about everything. But that doesn’t explain why Sinestro would grab someone who looked like Hal and hold them at knifepoint.

For now, episode 7 establishes a compelling chain of connections: Someone freed Sinestro, Hal maintained a secret route to his hiding place, and Hal was murdered by someone a few months after returning to Rushville. Sinestro may not have pulled the trigger, but he might know why Hal died. %!s()

A vast area of low pressure in the Atlantic is set to draw warm south to south-easterly winds across the UK early this week, but for some rain will not be far behind.

Tuesday looks as if it will be the warmest day and after that temperatures will generally return closer to the September average.

Much of the UK can also expect a spell of wetter and windier weather from the approaching depression, with the most unsettled conditions likely to affect Scotland, Northern Ireland and western parts of England and Wales.

However, many central, southern and eastern areas of England, which have been affected by drought, may see far less rain.

Autumnal weather setting in

Last week saw the autumn equinox, so our nights are now longer than our days.

This means that despite the warmth in the September sun, we are getting some cooler nights under clear skies.

So it will be notably chilly on Monday morning, perhaps with some fog patches to be aware of for the commute.

Once the fog clears a brighter day will follow for many, with high pressure allowing sunny spells and just a few scattered showers.

South-east England may see some welcome rain throughout the afternoon and evening, but it is by no means guaranteed. Temperatures will range from the mid to high teens, with some southern areas reaching 20C.

On Tuesday a strengthening southerly wind will bring a much warmer day.

Temperatures in the high teens are forecast in Scotland and Northern Ireland, and between 20 to 26 C for England and Wales.

However rain will move into Northern Ireland during the afternoon and then trek slowly eastwards throughout the evening and night. It may become persistent and occasionally heavy, with strong winds and gales for exposed coasts and hills.

Further east, drier and brighter conditions may remain before the rain arrives on Wednesday - it could possibly linger overnight.

Behind the rain it is back to sunny spells and scattered showers, and still windy in the west on Wednesday.

By Thursday, we are expecting high pressure to build, so it should be calmer and drier, and by Friday the north-west becomes the focus for any showers.

Of course the caveat is that forecast details may change, so you can stay up-to-date with the short term forecast for your area here.

Warmth continues but rain misses driest regions

Following the UK's hottest summer on record, September has been another notably warm month for many.

But it has also highlighted a stark north-west to south-east contrast.

While Scotland and other western areas have seen frequent Atlantic weather systems bearing rain and wind, much of central, southern and eastern England has remained largely dry with plenty of sunshine.

As a result, rainfall totals have varied dramatically.

Some drought-affected parts of England have received very little, while parts of north-west Scotland have been very wet.

Some parts - including Kirkwall and Prestwick - have already had nearly one-and-a-half times their average September rainfall. At Achnagart in the Highlands, rain has been recorded every day for the past 27 days.

Parts of Northern Ireland and Wales have had their average rainfall, whilst north-east England has seen some of the lowest amounts so far. %!s()

“First of all, I would like to thank my fingers because I can always count on them,” Madonna joked before launching into an anecdote about her debut at the very first VMAs, hosted back in 1984. “I had a little problem with my shoes … and I dove onto the stage to try to make myself look cute and sexy and like I meant to do it,” she said. “I went backstage feeling really proud of myself and my manager told me that my career was over.” 

She continued in her Artist of the Year speech: “I spent the last year-and-a-half finding myself, believing in myself and really making the music I wanted to make … My hope for all of you here tonight is that you spend the next year or the next 10 years or the rest of your life doing the same.” She also thanked long-time confidant and producer Stuart Price, calling him her “ride or die.”

“Who knew that 20 years after Confessions [on a Dancefloor] we could pull it off again [with Confessions II]?”

It was a winning night for Madonna, who later in the evening came onstage to accept the Moon Person for Best Dance, which was doled out regularly for decades beginning in 1989, but hasn’t been awarded since 2019. She invited presenters Charli XCX and Troye Sivan to her side as she gave her speech after making a joke about having a laser somewhere NSFW didn’t land with the audience. “I want to thank [Confessions II – The Film director] Torso for going on this adventure with me,” she said. “I came to New York to be a dancer and dance is where everything happened for me in my life.”

“I came to life on the dance floor, I fell in love with people on the dance floor, and I lost many people I loved on the dance floor,” she continued, “[And] dance brings everybody together. We’re all equal on the dance floor.”

The award helps cement a major VMAs year for Madonna, who came into the show leading all nominees with 13. While most of them were for the short film she made for her celebrated new album, Confessions II, the Sabrina Carpenter-featuring “Bring Your Love” also won Best Collaboration.

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Earlier in the evening, Madonna opened the VMAs with a massive performance of “Bring Your Love” and “Danceteria,” which included cameos from Carpenter, Charli XCX, Sombr, Julia Garner, Debi Mazur, Seth Rogan, Andrew Watt, and Fab Five Freddy.

Hosted by Snoop Dogg, the 2026 MTV Video Music Awards are airing live on CBS and MTV, and livestreaming on Paramount+ (Premium) on Sunday from Peacock Theater in Los Angeles. See the complete winners list. %!s()