Unraveling 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style' + my favorite Met Gala looks!
"God created black people...and black people created style."
Last night was fashion’s biggest night out—the Met Gala, a fundraising benefit for the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, held every year on the first Monday in May. The theme and dress code for the event are tied to the newest exhibition at the Met’s Costume Institute (which dates back to 1948). Which means that this year, we saw the theme “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.”
“Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” paid tribute to the artistry of tailoring and its deep roots in Black cultural expression. The exhibit drew inspiration from guest curator Monica L. Miller’s book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. At its core is the figure of the dandy—someone who approaches fashion with meticulous care and flair. For centuries, Black Dandies have used clothing as a powerful tool to assert dignity, individuality, and resistance in the face of a society determined to deny them all three.
“Fashion and dress have been used in a contest of power and aesthetics for Black people from the time of enslavement to the present, and dandyism has long served as a vehicle through which one can manipulate the relationship between clothing, identity, and power,” Miller wrote in a statement when it was announced in February. “The history of Black dandyism illustrates how Black people have transformed from being enslaved and stylized as luxury items, acquired like any other signifier of wealth and status, to autonomous, self-fashioning individuals who are global trendsetters.”
Examining the history of Black style through the lens of dandyism means pulling references from the “Sunday best” of the 18th and 19th centuries, the Harlem Renaissance excess of the 1920s and 30s, and the zoot suits of the 1940s—defined by an excess of fabric, made subversive by rations during World War II.
Contrary to popular belief, the Met Gala dress code isn’t a direct copy of the annual exhibition’s theme—it’s more of an interpretation. Each year, the dress code offers a starting point for guests to riff on creatively. For 2025, the invitation read “Tailored for You”—a nod to suiting, precision cuts, and technical tailoring. In practice, that translated to sharp silhouettes, clean lines…and so, so many blazers.
The event typically sees a group of co-chairs represent the Met, and this year’s chairs were Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams. But of course, Dandyism isn't just for the men. Janelle Monáe, one of 25 other celebrities on the Met Gala's host committee, is known for her dandy style: tailored suits, ornate bowties, and oversized hats.
There’s a well-worn trope we need to touch on: year after year, women at the Met Gala are expected to dazzle, while men often coast by in plain black tuxedos. The Met steps are crowded every spring with menswear looks that wouldn’t turn heads at a wedding. This year, with a dress code that literally leaned into the male fashion lexicon, there was a real opportunity to move beyond the safety of traditional black tie. Tailoring is rich with underappreciated potential—sharp silhouettes, intricate seams, luxurious fabrics, unexpected accessories. Some men rose to the occasion. But far too many proved that even when the bar is tailored specifically for them, they still manage to trip over it.
Even so, the event was a resounding success. The museum's CEO announced Monday this year's event had already raised a cool $31 million, the largest amount of any Met Gala to date. It’s a fitting endcap to an event celebrating the Black community’s monumental—and often overlooked—influence on fashion.
I have to say, I don’t think we’ve seen a Met Gala theme rise to meet the cultural moment quite like this one since 2018. That year, the theme “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” melded seamlessly with the late 2010s obsession with celestial motifs, luxe embellishments, and subversive use of religious iconography.
To that same end, there were very few looks that I didn’t like, or that I felt missed the mark entirely. The possibilities for interpreting the theme in a stylish way were ostensibly endless.
Below is a sampling of my favorite looks from this year’s event. The list is by no means exhaustive—there was just too much outstanding styling going on to include everything that struck my fancy! Be sure to let me know your favorite looks from this year’s Met Gala in the comments.
This year’s theme was so fun ✨ Loved to see Paul Tazewell’s collab with Thom Browne for Janelle Monae’s look! - Paul Tazewell is the Academy Award winning costume designer for Wicked 💚🩷
I thought Dapper Dan looked appropriately fabulous. :)