By Akiyah Brown
Image sourced from GQ
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute announced the theme for the 2025 Met Gala. Next year’s theme will be “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” a historical and cultural examination of the black dandy.
Lebron James will be the Met Gala’s honorary chair. Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams and Vogue’s Anna Wintour will be the event’s co-chairs. It will be the first Met Gala theme in over 20 years that will exclusively focus on men’s wear.
The theme is inspired by Monica L. Miller's 2009 book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.” Miller, a professor and chair of the Africana Studies Department at Barnard College, will also serve as a guest curator for The Met’s exhibit.
Black dandyism first appeared around 18th-century England due to the demand for dandified, or fashionably dressed, servants. Over the years, the style has evolved to become a form of self-expression within the black community. Black dandyism was also present during the Harlem Renaissance and the Blaxploitation film era.
“Dandyism has been used to think positively about black people, their ambitions and aspirations,” Miller said in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s theme announcement video. “And negatively about those very same aspirations.”
Reactions to the theme online have been mixed. Many expressed positive feelings and hopes that celebrities Janelle Monáe, Beyoncé, Zendaya and Rihanna would appear. Others expressed concerns about cultural appropriation and racism.
“I guarantee you all the white celebrities that typically show up to the met gala either won’t come, don’t follow the theme, or do something extremely offensive. just watch,” a user on X, formerly known as Twitter, wrote.
The Met Gala will take place May 5, 2025, the iconic “first Monday of May.” The exhibition will be open to the public from May 10 – Oct. 26, 2025.
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