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The 2025 Met Gala: A Celebration of Black Style and Tailoring
The Met Gala returns to New York City in 2025 with a focus on Black style and tailoring. This year’s theme, “Tailored for You,” complements the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute spring exhibition, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.”
Co-chaired by Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams, and Vogue Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour, with LeBron James as honorary chair, the gala promises a star-studded affair. A host committee of 25 additional celebrities adds to the excitement.
Exploring Black style and the history of dandyism, the theme is anticipated to inspire a diverse range of suits. Complex Editor-in-Chief Aria Hughes predicts designers will showcase creativity and storytelling, incorporating archival pieces from influential Black designers like Patrick Kelly and Willi Smith.
She highlighted style icons like André 3000 and Slick Rick as ones to watch, anticipating their unique interpretations of the theme. Hughes also expects to see designs by Grace Wales Bonner, whose work centers on Black male identity.
This year’s exhibition marks a historic moment for the Met, as it’s the first in over two decades to focus solely on menswear and the first ever to center Black identity and designers. Hughes emphasizes the significance of this recognition, particularly in the context of ongoing efforts to erase Black history. The exhibition offers a platform to showcase the profound impact of Black identity on fashion and ensures the preservation of Black designers’ contributions, alongside their white counterparts.
Inspired by Monica L. Miller’s book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, the exhibition delves into the historical use of fashion as a form of power and aesthetic expression for Black individuals, from enslavement to the present day. Miller’s work highlights how dandyism has served as a tool to navigate the complex relationship between clothing, identity, and power.
Dandyism, originally associated with aristocratic style, evolved during the trans-Atlantic slave trade. Miller’s book reveals how dandified Black servants in 18th-century England were adorned with collars of precious metals, symbolizing their owners’ wealth.
Stripped of their identities upon arrival in America, enslaved people found ways to express themselves through their Sunday best attire. Post-Emancipation, this evolved into the bold self-expression of the Harlem Renaissance, a period of vibrant cultural expression.
Today, dandyism represents a dedication to dress as a discipline, a means of self-expression and challenging stereotypes. It encompasses a wide range of styles, from tailored suits to more casual attire, serving as a form of armor and empowerment.
Past Met Gala themes include “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” (2024), a tribute to Karl Lagerfeld (2023), a two-part exploration of American fashion (2021-2022), “Camp: Notes on Fashion” (2019), and “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” (2018).