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Met Gala 2025 - Superfine: Tailoring Black Style
- Catherine Talbert
- 4 hours ago
- 3 min read
The Met Gala is next week, Monday, May 5th, and this year’s theme, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, proposes a powerful celebration of Black fashion and creativity. Inspired by Monica L. Miller’s book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, the exhibit will explore the evolution of Black style through the lens of dandyism, tracing its influence from the 18th century to today.
As Vogue notes, Black dandyism emerged in the 18th century at the intersection of African and European style traditions, during a new culture of consumption fueled by colonialism and the slave trade. Fashion historian Tianni Graham describes Black dandyism as embracing fashion as a lifestyle: expansive, expressive, and resistant to historic attempts at control.
The dress code, "Tailored for You," encourages personal interpretations of suiting and menswear. It’s also the first time since 2003’s “Men in Skirts” that the Met Gala will spotlight menswear.
I can’t help but wonder what this will look like. In recent years, we've all grown a little bored of the plain black-and-white tux. Many men still stick to the same formula, even when standing next to the most avant-garde looks from the girlies, and it’s hard to watch.
Yes, we’ve seen some men starting to take bigger risks, with lots of attention given to figures like Harry Styles and Timothée Chalamet embracing more feminine silhouettes. But Black men have been pushing boundaries in menswear for years. This theme finally gives credit where it’s due, spotlighting the Black innovators who have been redefining style all along.
One man who always gets it right is Colman Domingo. Known for redefining Hollywood’s menswear norms with his structural yet fluid style, Domingo is one of this year’s co-chairs, alongside Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, and Pharrell Williams. It feels fitting that these men, each in their own way, embody the tailoring and personal flair that the theme asks for.
Obviously, I’m most excited to see the Black designers, artists, and celebrities take center stage. But I do have questions about how non-Black attendees will approach it. When the theme was announced, it sparked backlash online about the risks of appropriation. Every year, we see celebrities dragged for missing the assignment, wearing beautiful gowns, sure, but with zero research or connection to the theme.
But when the theme is rooted in centuries of Black creativity, resilience, and rebellion, showing up without doing your homework isn't an option.
Aside from this year's theme, I have begun to question how the Met Gala manages to grasp my attention, and the attention of so many, for days before and after the event. I sit on my couch, critiquing looks that cost more money than I will likely ever see. In so many ways, it has become our modern "bread and circus": dazzling us with beauty, luxury, and drama while real crises rage just outside. The gowns get heavier, the themes get grander, the tickets get more expensive, and yet, the fundamental inequality underneath it all only grows louder. In 2021, AOC’s white Brother Vellies gown, with “Tax the Rich” scrawled across the back in big red letters, sparked huge debate. Some praised it as brilliant protest art, using the platform to call out the exact kind of inequality the event represents. Others saw it as hypocritical: why attend an ultra-elite, $75K-per-ticket event just to criticize it from the inside?
Criticism of the Met Gala’s extravagance continues to grow. Jack Schlossberg, JFK’s grandson, has even called for a boycott, criticizing the event’s increasing focus on celebrity over substance, with everything going on in the world. And honestly, as a fashion girly, I love the Met Gala, but it’s hard to ignore that the invite-only, $75,000-per-ticket event feels very Hunger Games in today’s world. I don’t quite know where I stand with it all. Maybe, just maybe, this year’s theme will shine more light on these inequalities. Black dandyism was created as a way to weaponize style against systemic control and erasure. The Met Gala, by contrast, is systemic power stitched in gold thread. What happens when two such different languages of fashion collide?
We’ll see.
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