Last night, the Met Gala did something that fashion doesn’t always get right: it listened.
Under the banner of “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”, the 2025 edition didn’t just celebrate aesthetics—it honoured legacy. Based on Monica L. Miller’s Slaves to Fashion, this year’s theme drew attention to the enduring power of Black dandyism, a style that has long fused elegance with resistance, theatre with self-determination, and the first ever exhibition to focus solely on menswear. And it couldn’t have arrived at a more urgent cultural moment, co-chairs Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams, and (of course) Anna Wintour made sure of it.
In a time when Black creativity is endlessly mined—sampled, filtered, and rebranded—by industries that often fail to acknowledge its roots, the Met’s spotlight on originators, not imitators, felt both radical and overdue.
Black Dandyism as Cultural Reclamation
The concept of the “dandy” has historically been read through a European, white, often flamboyant masculine lens. But Black dandyism flips the narrative. It is about self-possession. It is about style as sovereignty. From the 18th-century freedman striding down the street in a bespoke coat to the present-day icons reshaping what “luxury” looks like, Black men—and femmes—have used tailoring as a language of visibility and defiance.
That language spoke volumes last night. Zendaya, ever the visual storyteller, wore a custom Louis Vuitton zoot-suit-inspired look that nodded to the Harlem Renaissance while updating it with 21st-century precision. Jon Batiste, saxophone in hand, brought a flourish of Black musical history to his Haider Ackermann x Tom Ford ensemble, complete with a floral corsage that read less “accessory” and more “memoir.”
And then there was Diana Ross. Draped in 18 feet of Ugo Mozie brilliance, she didn’t just attend the Met Gala—she embodied it. Her presence, and that of her son Evan Ross in a wide-shouldered open suit, marked a generational continuum of Black excellence, where tailoring becomes a form of archiving memory.
Between Appropriation and Celebration
Let’s not romanticise the moment without naming its stakes. For decades, the fashion world has borrowed—read: stolen—from Black culture, extracting coolness without context. Braids rebranded as “boxer hair,” hip-hop silhouettes commodified for white streetwear, and sartorial codes lifted without lineage. This is not a new critique, but it bears repeating when an institution like the Met takes on this theme.
What made last night feel different, however, was the depth of storytelling. This wasn’t just about Black designers being present—it was about Black design being the narrative. From Doechii’s Louis Vuitton short suit paired with a natural afro to FKA Twigs’ feathery corseted look by Wales Bonner, the evening didn’t just acknowledge Black creativity—it was built around it.
Fashion as Archive, Style as Resistance
The true power of this Met Gala was not just in what was worn, but in what was remembered. The accompanying exhibition, opening to the public May 10, traces over 300 years of Black tailoring, artistry, and styling. It doesn’t present Black style as a “moment”—it presents it as a movement.
In 2025, when erasure still happens quietly and often, fashion can function as soft power: shaping cultural memory not through force, but through fabric. This year, the Met Gala reminded us that a well-cut suit can hold centuries. That beauty, when rooted in history, becomes political. And that the most powerful thing about tailoring isn’t the fit—it’s who gets to wear the story.
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