Vogue magazine have announced fashion’s biggest night, which will take place on 5 May, will have the theme of ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’ and revealed the stars who will join editor-in-chief Anna Wintour in arranging the Costume Institute show at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge, said of the co-chairs: “They’re all men who aren’t afraid to take risks with their self-presentation. They take advantage of classic forms, but they also remix them and break them down in really new ways.
“I think Black men and Black designers are very much at the forefront of this new renaissance in menswear.”
The annual exhibition and accompanying gala is inspired by Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book ‘Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity’ and will “take the Black dandy as its subject, examining the importance of clothing and style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora.”
Monica said at a Costume Institute press conference on Wednesday (09.10.24): “In the 18th century, dandyism could be both a vehicle of enslavement and liberation. It was also imposed upon and quickly taken up by Black people swept up into the political realities of the time.
“This exhibition, ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,’ explores the dialectic between being dandified and taking on dandyism as a means for self-fashioning. In the show, Black dandyism is a sartorial style that asks questions about identity, representation, mobility, race, class, gender, sexuality, power.”
The 2024 Met Gala was themed around ‘Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion’, while the previous year honoured late design legend Karl Lagerfeld.
On Wednesday, Oct. 9, Vogue shared details about the star-studded event, which is held annually on the first Monday in May at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. This year’s gala will take place on Monday, May 5 and honor the Costume Institute’s spring 2025 exhibition, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.”
Per the outlet, the exhibit draws inspiration from Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity and will “feature garments, paintings, photographs, and more — all exploring the indelible style of Black men in the context of dandyism, from the 18th century through present day.” Miller will serve as a guest curator for the show with Costume Institute Curator in Charge Andrew Bolton.
According to Vogue, Miller said that dandyism could be defined as “dressing wisely and well.” She also described it as “a strategy and a tool to rethink identity, to reimagine the self in a different context. To really push a boundary—especially during the time of enslavement, to really push a boundary on who and what counts as human, even.”
Miller adds that the exhibit will “illustrate how Black people 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.”
Pharrell Williams, Anna Wintour and Lewis Hamilton at a Met Gala press conference, Oct. 9, 2024.
The 2025 Met Gala co-chairs are Colman Domingo, F1 driver Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams and Anna Wintour alongside honorary chair LeBron James. The group is a mix of Met Gala veterans as well as newcomers.
Domingo, 54, made his Met Gala debut in 2024 in a Willy Chavarria suit that honored late stars Chadwick Boseman and André Leon Talley. Hamilton, 39, has been attending the event since 2015. The British race car driver has made headlines for his stylish track looks and frequently attends fashion shows.
Coleman Domingo at the 2024 Met Gala.
A$AP Rocky has had a handful of memorable Met Gala appearances. In 2021, the 36-year-old rapper shut down the red carpet (alongside Rihanna) in a massive multicolored quilt. In 2023, the couple made their mark and shut down the red carpet once again in looks that honored the late Karl Lagerfeld.
Rihanna wore dramatic white Maison Valentino gown with a long, sweeping train and matching cape covered in rosettes. She topped the look off with opera-length fingerless gloves and a pair of white sunglasses with faux eyelashes attached.
The rapper wore a Gucci look featuring a black blazer, a white collared dress shirt, and a red plaid pleated kilt layered over a pair of bedazzled jeans, a direct reference to a similar look Lagerfeld wore to close out a Chanel runway show in 2004.
