The time has come, fashionphiles, to finally discuss this year’s display of designer’s creativity on the Met Gala’s red carpet. Following last year’s theme, “Garden of Time,” the 2025 Met Gala celebrates “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” which was inspired by Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.”
For those wondering what the Met Gala is, it is a charity and fundraiser event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s (MET) Costume Institute located in New York City.
The hosts, including American actor Colman Domingo, seven-time Formula 1 World Champion Lewis Hamilton, music artist A$AP Rocky, American singer Pharrell Williams and Editor in Chief of American Vogue Anna Wintour, invite about 450 attendees to celebrate the opening of the new exhibit, which has grown over the event’s 77 year history.
The gala’s dress code, “Tailored for You,” is reflective of menswear, suiting and, most importantly, Black Dandyism, which was an early 20th century cultural movement characterized by self expression and presentation through European-style fashion and the Harlem Renaissance.
Black Dandyism, at its core, was “a movement rooted in reclaiming the 18th-century practice of slave owners dressing up their slaves to demonstrate their wealth,” editor Garri Chaverst said in The Every Girl.
Such a clash between the embracing of black cultural pride and European roots during colonial periods led to the style being organized into 12 sections: Ownership, Presence, Distinction, Disguise, Freedom, Champion, Respectability, Jook (a space for dancing, drinking and other leisure activities according to Zora Neale Hurston), Heritage, Beauty, Cool and Cosmopolitanism.
These facets of the black identity were expressed through art as well. Garments, paintings and photography were displayed featuring current black artists like Torkwase Dyson, Tanda Francis and Tyler Mitchell.
“From Zendaya’s expertly tailored all-white suit to Janelle Monáe’s red, black, and white pinstripe reveal, these are the looks that cemented this year’s Met Gala as the most memorable in recent history,” Chaverst said.
With such a theme, the MET not only highlighted historically cultural black rebellion against social expectations, but also continued the tradition, encouraging unity among black artists and strengthening Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) programs. In an Instagram post, Zac Posen, the designer of Actress Laura Harrier’s custom Gap Studio ensemble, described Dandyism as a “a form of rebellion and a uniform of entry.”
The 2025 Met Gala theme not only celebrated the 21st century Black identity, but also cemented its long term contribution to American culture.
Zendaya’s outfit, designed by her longtime stylist Law Roach and Pharrell Williams, is an excellent representation of the “Tailored to You” dress code, according to Chaverst. She arrived in a custom Louis Vuitton zoot suit along with a white hat—simple and elegant. (Graphic/Alina Sukhovskaya)
