The 2025 Met Gala’s Ode to Black Style and the Power of Menswear
The first Monday in May is stitched into the very seams of the fashion calendar. And last night, the Met Gala once again transformed the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art into a runway of global style, spectacle, and storytelling. Held annually since 1948, “fashion’s biggest night out” in New York City is a fundraising benefit for the museum’s Costume Institute. This year’s official dress code, Tailored for You, invited guests to interpret and express the theme in their own way, anchored by the museum’s exhibition Superfine: Tailoring Black Style
The exhibition, the first in almost two decades to focus exclusively on menswear, explores how sartorial choices in Black communities have long served as instruments of autonomy, rebellion, joy, and cultural expression. Superfine holds “both the rhythm and the blues” of Black identity, showcasing style as a site of dignity, resistance, celebration, and sorrow.
Inspired by Monica L. Miller’s seminal book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, the exhibition brings academic theory to the red carpet. Having started out as her PhD thesis, Miller said outside the event that she could never have imagined her work inspiring an occasion of this scale and impact.
Since 1995, Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour has served as the gala’s co-chair, shaping its vision and guest list. This year, she wore a look inspired by the late Virgil Abloh, the visionary behind Off-White and former menswear artistic director at Louis Vuitton.
Speaking on the red carpet, Wintour addressed the cultural weight of the theme: “Given the current political climate in the United States, it is more important than ever to stand behind and spotlight the Black community.”
Menswear takes centre stage
While women have long dominated Met Gala headlines, this year – for perhaps the first time, the spotlight belonged to the men, who usually orbit the edges of the carpet.
Rooted in themes of Black dandyism and the reimagining of the suit as a tool of self-expression, the men in attendance rose to the occasion. From historical references to high fashion opulence, male guests brought emotional depth and visual power to the evening.
Co-chair Colman Domingo set the tone in a cobalt blue ensemble by Valentino that paid homage to both Martin Luther King Jr. and the late André Leon Talley. His look referenced choir robes and included symbolic nods to the blue garments historically worn by enslaved people.
Joining Wintour and Domingo as co-chairs were Pharrell Williams, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky and LeBron James, all of whom arrived in ensembles reflecting months of research, intention, and cultural symbolism. These men, dandy icons in their own right, have each helped reshape the conversation around menswear. Speaking about their looks, they reflected on how fashion became a space for self-definition and defiance as Black men.
The art of tailoring
Rarely red in colour, this year’s carpet designed by visual artist Cy Gavin was a deep celestial blue, dotted with bursts of daffodils – symbols of rebirth.
Tailoring and structure took centre stage. Women and men alike arrived in inventive interpretations of suiting, with bold, intentional designs that treated tailoring as a form of storytelling. Each outfit represented a chapter in a broader narrative, challenging long-held ideas about who gets to be seen, and how.
Standout menswear looks included Al Sharpton, Christian Latchman, Walton Goggins, Damson Idris, Keith Powers, Khaby Lame and Bad Bunny.
Representing Ireland
were Barry Keoghan and Andrew Scott. The public is rarely privy to the seated dinner, prepared by chef Kwame Onwuachi, but one can’t help but wonder if there were any awkward encounters between Keoghan and ex Sabrina Carpenter, who was also in attendance.
Diana reigns Supreme
While menswear claimed new ground, the women were far from sidelined. None more striking than Diana Ross, who made her first Met Gala appearance since 2003. The music icon shut down the carpet in a white gown adorned with crystals and feathers, complete with an 18-foot train embroidered with the names of her children and grandchildren.
Designed in collaboration with her son Evan Ross and Nigerian designer Ugo Mozie, the gown was both deeply personal and culturally resonant. Speaking to Vogue’s livestream, Ross admitted she was initially reluctant to attend as she is currently on tour, but her son insisted on the cultural importance of the theme convincing her she had to be there.
While a ticket to fashion’s most coveted night would set you back $70,000, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style opens to the public on 10 May and runs through October.
According to the museum, the exhibition is “a presentation of garments and accessories, paintings, photographs, decorative arts, and more from the 18th century to today. The exhibition interprets the concept of dandyism as both an aesthetic and a strategy that allowed for new social and political possibilities.”
Beyond the flashing bulbs and spectacle of last night, the true masterpiece wasn’t just worn, it was woven for centuries through threads of resistance, roots, and radical imagination.