Met Gala 2025 Highlights Tailoring, Identity, and Heritage \ Newslooks \ Washington DC \ Mary Sidiqi \ Evening Edition \ The 2025 Met Gala embraced “Tailored for You,” a theme inspired by Black dandyism, as celebrities wore pinstripe gowns, zoot suits, and pearl-encrusted tuxedos. Despite the rain, the event dazzled with hosts like Colman Domingo and Pharrell Williams leading the celebration. This year’s gala broke fundraising records, bringing in over $31 million.
Quick Looks
- Theme “Tailored for You” pays homage to Black dandyism across the diaspora.
- Emma Chamberlain, Zuri Hall, and others donned sleek pinstripe gowns reimagining menswear silhouettes.
- Teyana Taylor wowed in a red zoot suit, complete with floral embellishments and a feathered hat.
- Colman Domingo and Pharrell Williams led hosting duties, alongside Anna Wintour.
- Pharrell’s 15,000-pearl jacket reportedly took 400 hours to construct.
- Author Monica L. Miller, whose book inspired the exhibit, appeared in cowrie-shell fashion by Grace Wales Bonner.
- Exhibit “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” anchors the gala with 12 style-themed sections.
- Record $31 million raised, breaking last year’s $26 million mark for the Costume Institute.
Deep Look
The 2025 Met Gala, widely regarded as the most glamorous and influential fashion event of the year, unfolded under a gray and rainy New York sky—but no amount of drizzle could dim the brilliance of this year’s theme or the celebrities who interpreted it. Titled “Tailored for You,” the dress code and accompanying exhibit drew deeply from the aesthetics and political resonance of Black dandyism, challenging attendees to blend meticulous tailoring with cultural expression, personal identity, and historical narrative.
The theme, curated in part by author and scholar Monica L. Miller, was rooted in her landmark book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. Miller, who also served as a guest curator for the Met’s accompanying spring exhibition Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, described the dandy as someone who navigates style as both subversion and self-celebration. From Zoot suits to pearl-encrusted jackets, the fashion on display Monday night transformed the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art into a living tableau of elegance, rebellion, and Black excellence.
Emma Chamberlain, ever the red carpet darling, arrived in a sleek pinstriped gown—a nod to classic men’s suiting that still maintained a feminine silhouette. She was joined in a similar interpretation by Zuri Hall, who wore a fitted dress with sharp tailoring and menswear cues. The combination of power dressing and sensuality set the tone for the evening: fashion that plays with gendered expectations while honoring history.
“We’re seeing this deliberate blend of femininity and masculine structure,” noted William Dingle, director of style at BlackMenswear.com. “It’s less about copying a suit and more about embodying the ethos of tailored confidence that Black dandies have historically used to reclaim power and presence.”
Few embodied this ethos more vividly than Teyana Taylor, whose breathtaking Zoot suit drew gasps and applause alike. Complete with an oversized red cape dripping in floral embellishments, a feathered top hat, and ornate jewelry, her ensemble paid homage to the Harlem Renaissance-era statement style that once served as both cultural celebration and political resistance. The Zoot suit, often associated with defiance and identity in mid-20th-century Black and Latino communities, made a triumphant return—not as nostalgia, but as a bold reassertion of heritage.
Meanwhile, co-host Colman Domingo evoked the spirit of the late André Leon Talley, Vogue’s iconic former editor-at-large, in a gray and black suit adorned with a pearled windowpane jacket, voluminous pleated cape, and an oversized dotted flower brooch. Domingo’s presence on the carpet alongside Anna Wintour, the long-standing architect of the Met Gala, symbolized the event’s deeper embrace of inclusive storytelling through style.
Joining them were fellow co-chairs Pharrell Williams, Lewis Hamilton, and A$AP Rocky, each interpreting the theme through the lens of personal heritage and high fashion. Pharrell, serving also as Louis Vuitton’s Menswear Creative Director, stunned in a double-breasted evening jacket encrusted with over 15,000 pearls, reportedly requiring 400 hours of handwork. His understated glamour contrasted with his wife Helen Lasichanh, who wore a minimalist black bodysuit and matching blazer.
Hamilton, known for his precision both on and off the Formula 1 track, took a stylish turn in an ivory tuxedo with a cropped jacket and a playful beret. Each of the hosts represented a spectrum of Black male identity—bold, elegant, sporty, and artistic—embodying the very multiplicity the theme set out to celebrate.
Though LeBron James was named an honorary co-chair, he was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury. Still, the bench of celebrity hosts remained deep. Notable figures from across industries attended, including Simone Biles and her husband Jonathan Owens, track stars Sha’Carri Richardson and Angel Reese, director Regina King, playwright Jeremy O. Harris, and fashion trailblazers like Dapper Dan, Edward Enninful, and Olivier Rousteing. The diversity of the guest list was intentional and deliberate, according to Pharrell.
“It’s so important to me to have successful Black and brown people of every stripe in the room,” Pharrell told Vogue. “Not just athletes and entertainers—but authors, architects, fintech pioneers. We’ve got to invest in each other. The force of Black and brown genius is collective.”
At the heart of the evening was the exhibition itself: Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, structured into 12 thematic rooms reflecting traits identified in Zora Neale Hurston’s 1934 essay Characteristics of Negro Expression. These themes—ownership, presence, disguise, respectability, freedom, heritage, and others—were represented not only in the curated garments inside the museum but also in the ensembles worn by gala guests. The exhibit challenges visitors to consider style not just as fashion, but as language—coded, layered, resistant, and revelatory.
Financially, the event was a landmark success. Metropolitan Museum of Art CEO Max Hollein announced that the gala raised a record-breaking $31 million, surpassing 2024’s $26 million total. These funds are vital to the Costume Institute, which operates with a self-funded model and relies on the Met Gala for a significant portion of its annual budget.
As in previous years, Vogue livestreamed the event, beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern across its digital platforms. Emma Chamberlain returned as carpet correspondent, conducting interviews with guests, while Teyana Taylor, La La Anthony, and Ego Nwodim hosted the broader coverage. The Associated Press offered delayed red carpet streams, and E! News provided traditional broadcast coverage with streaming on Peacock, YouTube, and social platforms.
Despite the rainy weather, the night was radiant with meaning. Beyond the opulence and celebrity, the 2025 Met Gala succeeded in using fashion as a form of cultural storytelling. It drew attention to Black contributions to global fashion, highlighted the politics of tailoring and identity, and gave voice—through silk, wool, pearls, and pinstripes—to a history too often ignored.
Fashion was not the end, but the means. And on that night, the Met steps became a stage where Black excellence was not only seen—it was tailored to be celebrated.
You must Register or Login to post a comment.