Stars lean into Met Gala’s 2025 theme: ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’
Hello! Ellie and Morwenna from the Guardian’s fashion desk here in London. We’ll be watching the Met Gala – fashion’s Oscars/Baftas/Olympics – so you don’t have to, guiding you through the probable hits and possible misses from a starry guest list which includes Zendaya, Ariana Grande, Rihanna, and multiple Jenner/Kardashians.
To recap on what you’re watching: as ever, the Met Gala takes place on the first Monday in May as the opening of New York’s Costume Institute exhibition. There is always a theme, and usually some sort of accompanying text, and this year’s it’s called “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” which will look back at 300 years of Black fashion alongside the history of Black dandyism.
To get you up to speed, do have a read of this brilliant piece by the Guardian’s Sasha Mistlin from earlier this week. Last month, Sasha interviewed Monica L. Miller, whose 2009 book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, interrogates of the strategic use of fashion by Black men throughout history, which is the inspiration behind both the exhibition and gala.
The theme is notable for various reasons, not least because it’s the Met’s first ever fashion exhibition devoted entirely to designers of colour so is being viewed by some as a wider effort to incorporate more diversity into the collection. It’s timely too. Previous galas have been criticised for being tone-deaf, little more than peacocking, and a parade of privilege and elitism.
In her preview piece for the Saturday paper, Jess Cartner-Morley describes this year’s theme as an “intellectually minded celebration of diversity [which] lands at a moment when the Trump administration is pushing back robustly against both diversity and intellectualism”.
However you view it, the event itself has huge cultural and celebrity cachet, helped no end by Anna Wintour and her assembled co-hosts: Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, ASAP Rocky and Pharrell Williams with LeBron James as the honorary chair.
This is handy given the main thrust of the gala is making money. A choice guest list of designers, celebrities and other notables will have bought tickets or a table at great cost. An individual ticket is $75,000, or over £55,ooo, while a table of ten goes for more than a quarter of a million pounds. Donations also roll in from donors. Proceeds then go to the Costume Institute, which is dependent on the gala for its main operating costs, though it’s worth mention that the gala itself costs a lot of put on too … The gala’s arrival is fleeting: stars arrive, walk up the stairs, and disappear inside. There is a party with dinner and music, more on what that involves later. And there is almost always Rihanna.
Fashion-wise, what does that mean? We can probably expect some radical tailoring, a little menswear-as-womenswear, flamboyant spins on the modern dandy and a diverse raft of designers. But what we want to see is a celebration of fashion at its most multicultural, expressive and absurd. Fashion as high art.
We all know that the red carpet is now an economy unto itself, a strangely cultivated branding exercise for celebrities and marketing tool by the fashion industry built on an illusion that the gowns and dandy suits are an expression of a celebrity’s personal style when in fact, they’ve been picked by a stylist. But that doesn’t stop it being wonderful to watch.
Key events
Edward Helmore
Out on the streets, actor Laban King, 41, was also out to celebrate dandyism.
“I’m originally from Detroit, Michigan, so I grew up dressing like this. The look is for my father. This is our look, our culture, and at the end of the day theres nothing like a man in a suit. That will never go out of style.”
Ellie Violet Bramley
Fifty-three-year-old Walton Goggins – who plays Rick in season three of The White Lotus – might have been winning fans for his hairline of late, but after tonight his twirling will surely be heaped with praise, too. He did it all wearing a deconstructed-style suit from maestro of playful, unexpected tailoring Thom Browne.
Morwenna Ferrier
If virality seems to be the end goal tonight, then Sabrina Carpenter’s espresso-coloured dress/bodysuit/shirt/train thing is a strong contender. Designed by Pharrell Williams for Louis Vuitton – making it in one sense menswear – he refused to make her trousers because she’s so short. “High shoes are a staple,” she said. Yes they are.
Ellie Violet Bramley
Another of this year’s co-chairs, A$AP Rocky, has arrived in an outfit designed by AWGE, his own label that debuted in June last year, a move perfectly in keeping with the importance of self-expression that is woven into the theme. “I feel amazing, this is a dream come true,” he told Vogue. “I really wanted to give it a bit of Harlem Nights.”
As Pharrell Williams said in the lead-up to tonight, Rihanna and her partner, A$AP Rocky, are the couple to watch on the red carpet: “Those two, they come through with a blowtorch.” And come through Rocky certainly has.
Morwenna Ferrier
Anne Hathaway, the latest star to weaponise the white shirt, arrives in a sequin cocktail skirt by Carolina Herrera and a Titanic-esque gobstopper of as necklace. Her look was inspired, she told Vogue, “by André Leon Talley”.
Morwenna Ferrier
Look of the night – or at least most mimetically-geared look – goes to Diana Ross who scaled the steps for the first time since 2003 in a sparkling column dress finished off with a spotlight-sweeping 18ft white train, embroidered with the names of all her children and grandchildren.
Ten years to the day since Rihanna broke the internet with her Guo Pei’s canary-yellow omelette dress, could Diana’s dress be a reference? Is this the year of the egg-white omelette dress?
“I had to be careful with the hat – my head is pretty big,” she said.
Fun fact: Rihanna’s 2015 dress had been sitting in Guo’s studio for three years before the singer’s team came across it after making inquiries into Chinese couture prior to the 2015 gala, the theme of which was China: Through the Looking Glass.
Ellie Violet Bramley
Zendaya’s all-white, three-piece take on the zoot suit is one of many already to grace the red carpet this evening. A custom Louis Vuitton design by Pharrell Williams, a snake broach is pinned to its back – no doubt more will come out about the significance of that later.
The zoot suit is already proving a favourite this evening with good reason. According to the Smithsonian, “With its super-sized shoulder pads, sprawling lapels and peg leg pants, the zoot suit grew out of the “drape” suits popular in Harlem dance halls in the mid-1930s.” The lavish cut, which used bountiful amounts of fabric, signalled wealth and excess.
They are politically loaded. As historian Kathy Peiss wrote in Zoot Suit: The Enigmatic Career of an Extreme Style: “For those without other forms of cultural capital, fashion can be a way of claiming space for yourself.”
Morwenna Ferrier
Styled by the keen-eyed Gabriella Karefa Johnson, model Gigi Hadid has arrived complete with a victory roll and a shimmering Miu Miu gown which seemingly references the golden age of cinema – the 1940s throwbacks are two-a-penny.
It’s actually a reference to the little known American fashion designer and costumer, Zelda Wynn Valdes, who is thought to have designed the first Playboy bunny costumes. “I like to think it’s the sort of thing she might have designed for me,” said Hadid on the red (blue) carpet.
Morwenna Ferrier
Pamela Anderson arrives not on a wing and a prayer, but a brand new bob and pillowy shaped silver sequinned gown by Tory Burch. It’s a good distraction from the many, many column inches that will likely be dedicated to her no-make-up make up. It’s a dignified, dialled up sort of glamour – though it’s not entirely clear what it has to do with the theme …
Ellie Violet Bramley
Whoopi Goldberg has shown up to the red carpet wearing a brilliantly tailored look by the master of playful tailoring, New York-based designer Thom Browne. It apparently took 350,000 sequins to make.
She says she opted for silver finger caps because she “couldn’t get a manicure”, which will go down in history as the ultimate humblebrag.
Earlier today, co-chair Colman Domingo appeared at the Metropolitan Museum’s private view for its forthcoming exhibition, and the real reason we’re all here.
Do watch this video; it’s a rather moving take on the Black male experience over history as well as legendary fashion journalist André Leon Talley, and why being involved this year matters so much to him.
Morwenna Ferrier
Perhaps unsurprisingly, there are a lot of black looks tonight. It’s a little dull, a little on the nose, but to be fair Sydney Sweeney has found a Miu Miu gown with interesting fringed shoulders that’s somehow both unifying and elongating (her “third year with the brand!”, she said proudly) – the whole thing is inspired by Kim Novak, she says. The kiss curl is a nice touch.
Fashion fans brave downpour in New York to see stars at the Met Gala
Edward Helmore
In case you’re wondering, it is pouring in New York. Edward Helmore has filed this dispatch from the damper-than-damp fans huddled outside the museum:
Fashion fans braved heavy rain to get a glimpse of the stars making their way to the Met Gala, while others – local residents – expressed frustration that they could get passed police security blocks to get home
Ariana Degado, 18, standing outside the Carlyle hotel, said he was there to see Bad Bunny – if possible. “I like his style. He’s different from other Black celebrities. He dresses however he wants. Not masculine, not feminine. He’s more like whatever.” Her friend, Kaitlyn Gonzales, said she was waiting for Milly Cyrus.
Leandra Nef, a stylist from Zurich, Switzerland, said she was keen to see how the stars interpreted dandyism: “It’s very important but not easy. I can imagine they might be scared to do something wrong but at the same time it’s a huge opportunity to work with Black performers and people of color.
The theme of the ball said Winst, who works security for luxury stores, said he, too, was cool for Black people to be appreciated for their style and contributions to culture. If white people turn up trying to look Black, “it’s just all part of inclusion, I guess, “ he said.
Djassi DaCosta-Johnson, whose sister Yaya DaCosta, an actor, was going to the gala, said it was an important moment “especially with the assault on our culture and the history of this country.”
“These types of things do feel a bit like reparations because art and music and fashion is culture and we are constantly recreating it. Regardless of whether its recognised by the white echelons of society, they have always bought into and used it their advantage. So this is grand display and a beautiful celebration.”
Ellie Violet Bramley
This is US Olympic athlete Simone Biles’s second time attending the Met Gala, and this time she is also on the host committee. Although, she said in the run-up, that hasn’t been too taxing a role that she couldn’t focus on what to wear. “No big, big job … just show up, have a good time, wear a beautiful fit, and then just walk the carpet,” she said. Although, on the red carpet, she has said that getting ready for the Met was more stressful than preparing for the Olympics.
Last time she attended she wore a dress that weighed around the same as a coffee table. This time her electric blue dress (sure we are seeing the coattails of ALT again) with a sharply tailored collar looks lighter, even if the train is exuberantly long. No double somersaults with a triple twist tonight, then, but plenty of sartorial prowess in this look from LA-based designer Charles Harbison.
Morwenna Ferrier
No prizes for guessing what Pharrell Williams, the creative director of Louis Vuitton, is wearing tonight.
A cropped double breasted jacket in white pearls might not sound particularly subversive. It’s black tie with a modish, dandy flavour. But like his predecessor, Virgil Abloh, Williams’ appointment as the head of the biggest menswear fashion brand in the world is a marker of the power of Black cultural capital – not to mention hiphop, class and class politics – on a global scale, so he is a key figure tonight. He’s also a chair. Also, the flares are a great touch.
