The 2025 Met Gala: "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style"- A Quick Guide

Feb 10

2 min read

Welcome to the second installment of our Met Gala Countdown series! Now that we've established how the Met Gala came to be (read Part One if you haven't already), I think it's time we started digging into this year's theme and exhibition. Let's get started, shall we?

The 2025 Met Gala theme is "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" and will focus on Black Dandyism and its influence on identity and cultural formation. The exhibition, inspired by Slaves to Fashion by Monica L. Miller, will showcase clothing, photographs, fine art, texts, and artifacts that explore the Black dandy. The co-chairs include Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams, and Anna Wintour, with Lebron James serving as an honorary chair.

A dress code announcement. — The dress code announcement (@voguemagazine on Instagram)

The host Committee members who will support the night's festivities are André 3000, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens, Grace Wales Bonner, Jordan Casteel, Dapper Dan, Doechii, Ayo Edebiri, Edward Enninful, Jeremy O. Harris, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Rashid Johnson, Regina King, Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, Audra McDonald, Janelle Monáe, Jeremy Pope, Angel Reese, Sha'Carri Richardson, Olivier Rousteing, Tyla, Usher, and Kara Walker.

This year's dress code is "Tailored for You." What exactly does that mean within the context of the exhibition? The occasion calls for a tailored suit but be warned: This dress code requires at least some research. The best place to start is to understand dandyism, a style and cultural movement characterized by refined elegance and meticulous, flamboyant fashion that emphasizes self-expression through tailored clothing, polished manners, and intellectual wit. For Black dandies, specifically, fashion became a means of self-definition and self-empowerment, challenging stereotypes and asserting dignity within a society that sought to do the opposite.

Since this is the Met Gala, expect extravagant expressions of dandyism, emphasizing details in fabrics, hats, canes, handkerchiefs, cufflinks, and gloves. Designers and/or attendees may also recur on the red carpet with historical homages to family members or notable Black dandies. Here are some examples of looks we may potentially see on the first Monday in May:

A sepia photo of a Black dandy sitting on a chair with his legs crossed. — *Untitled* by Jody Ake (2003)

A Black woman in a vibrant red tailored suit-dress. — Janelle Monae at the Vanity Fair Oscars Afterparty in 2018 Photo Credit: Getty / Jean-Baptiste Lacroix

A photo of a mannequin wearing a 1940s Zoot Suit. — A 1940-42 Zoot Suit from a Los Angeles County Museum collection. Photo Credit: *Museum Associates/LACMA.*

A light-skin man in a tailored, bright blue suit. — Jidenna in 2015 David Miller - Mad Lab Photography

An older Black man in a tailored red and green plaid suit. — Dapper Dan in 2018. Photo Credit: Gabriella Celeste/GQ

An older Black man in a tuxedo and a bright patterned robe with the Eiffel tower in the background. — André Leon Talley for Vanity Fair in 2013 Photo Credit: Jonathan Becker

This seems to be a relatively easy theme for everyone to follow compared to other years. But will everyone adhere to the dress code in a refreshingly creative manner? Let's hope so.

Come back for Part Three of the Met Gala Countdown series on February 24th.