I’m not a real fashion observer but I do enjoy the looks served up at the Met Gala every year. Something I didn’t know for many years is that the Met Gala doesn’t just raise funds for the Met’s Costume Institute, but the institute isn’t funded by the Met. The Institute came to the Met in 1946 but was independently run until 1959. (I also didn’t know the Costume Institute was named after Anna Wintour in 2014.)
This year’s theme was Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. What fascinates me isn’t just the wildness of the costumes, which are often as much high art as wearable fashion, but the complex explanations that go with why the outfits are on theme. This year in particular there were a lot of choices that I didn’t have the background to get, but when I read the explanation or saw the comparison photos, I really got it. One example was Megan Thee Stallion’s hair, which was styled after a well-known Josephine Baker look. I’m very interested in Baker, but this look was from the later part of her career, which I know less about. And I know who Andre Leon Talley was, but I’m not conversant enough with his style to catch all the references to him.
This year’s theme was also interestingly tricky for a lot of white celebrities. Black celebs and other celebrities of color went all out, but even white folks working with Black designers had a needle to thread. Men could go for dandyism, but women, who traditionally show the fanciest clothes at the Met, had to consider whether they might be accused of hijacking the spotlight. As it turned out, most of them, even if they were well-tailored, didn’t hold a candle to the Black celebrities.
It’s been a day since the gala so a lot of pictures and commentary are out there now. I recommend TLo and Lainey Gossip for deep dives into some of the costumes if that’s your thing. I’ve also linked some articles I’ve read that I thought were interesting.
Sources:
- Wikipedia: Met Gala and Anna Wintour Costume Center.
- Metropolitan Museum of Art: Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. The exhibit the Gala is thematically tied to.
- Vogue Magazine’s Instagram First look at the Superfine exhibit.
- AP: See incredible photos of Met Gala looks as stars pay tribute to Black fashion and designers. Summary photos of the top looks of the night.
- AP: Met Gala hub.
- Vogue: An Exclusive Look Inside the 2025 Met Gala | Vogue. 275 photos, but they’re not all labeled, so you may not know who everyone is.
- Vogue: The Best Dressed Stars From the 2025 Met Gala Last Night | Vogue. Only 55 to look at here.
- Ashmolean Museum Instagram: We’re back with the Ashmolean meets the Met Gala! Looks compared to items in the Ashmolean collection.
- BBC: ‘Clothes can contain a lot of emotion’: How black men have used flamboyant fashion to express pride and resistance.
- NY Times: The Tricky Politics of This Year’s Met Gala.
- The Barbed Wire: Black Dandyism, the 2025 Met Gala Theme, Grew Out of Southern Churches.
- Tom and Lorenzo: Met Gala 2025 archive.
- Lainey Gossip: Met Gala 2025 archive.