The History Behind the 2025 Met Gala Theme

Time​ Magazine

30-04-2025

The red carpet styles at the 2025 Met Gala on Monday are always works of art in and of themselves.
This year, the stars walking the red carpet will pay homage to an exhibit theme with a deep history. 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style' is a cultural and historical examination of Black style over 300 years through the concept of Dandyism, telling a story through garments, accessories, paintings, photographs, and decorative arts. Just as Black Dandyism is about bright, bold, showy designs, expect the same kinds of designs on the red carpet.
Here's what to know about Black Dandyism, the theme for the 2025 Met Gala.
What is Black Dandyism?
A Black Dandy sees fashion as a way of life. The culture of Dandyism can be traced to the the 1700s, when during the Atlantic slave trade, there was 'a trend of fashionably dressed or dandyfied servants,' Superfine's co-curator Monica L. Miller, author of Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, says on the museum's website.
Black Dandyism came out of an effort to gain basic respect in a racist and prejudiced society through fashion and self-expression. says Peter K. Andersson, author of The Dandy: A People's History of Sartorial Splendour, via email. 'White Dandies have been ostracized and derided as well in various ways, but for Black Dandies, the Dandyism has almost always been accompanied by the added dimension of cruel racism, special treatment and discrimination,' he says.
Andersson cites scholar Zine Magubane, who described the loud outfits of Black Dandyism in the 19th century as a refusal of 'the posture of silence" demanded of Black people by white supremacists.
Black Dandyism in culture
Zoot suits—long suit jackets with shoulder pads worn over baggy dress pants—became popular among Black men, jazz musicians, and activists and grew into a symbol of resistance.
Originating in Harlem, N.Y. in the 1930s, 'it is considered the first uniquely American suit,' Clarissa Esguerra, a curator of costume and textiles at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, told the Los Angeles Times. Other minority groups started sporting zoot suits, and the bold designs made Chicanos a target of racial violence in 1940s Los Angeles, when fabric was being rationed during World War II.
Black Dandyism is not just an American phenomenon.
Around the same time the style of zoot suits grew in popularity, groups of young South African men known as tsotsis became known in Apartheid-era Johannesburg for sporting narrow bottomed trousers and imitating the styles of American movie stars. South African Black Dandies known as swenkas faced off in fashion competitions.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Black Dandies known as Sapeurs strut their stuff in parades, dating back to the 1970s when the children of Congolese families went to study in Paris and brought back the latest fashions, scholar Daouda Coulibaly writes on The Conversation.
Black Dandyism today
As Vogue noted, Black Dandies in the 19th century and early 20th century sported bespoke tailoring as a way to show that they fit in, asserting their dignity. Black Dandies in the 21st century sport bold colors and prints to show that they are not only surviving, but also thriving. Essence cites André 3000's green button down shirt with white suspenders in the 2003 'Hey Ya!' music video as 'the accouterments of an outstandingly dressed Black man, a Dandy, to be sure."
According to the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) modern-day Dandy 'icons' in entertainment include this year's Met Gala co-chairs A$AP Rocky, Pharrell, Colman Domingo, and committee member André 3000.
For A$AP Rocky, Dandyism means enjoying pearls, kilts, barrettes, furs, and Saint Laurent suits. Pharrell stands out for the way he blends street wear with luxury fashion, so much so that Louis Vuitton named him a creative director.
And with Oscar nominee Colman Domingo 's 2024 Met Gala look—boasting a long white cape and flowy black dress pants—the actor 'redefined Hollywood's approach to menswear,' according to the CFDA. On Monday, as celebrities arrive on the 2025 Met Gala red carpet, we'll see just how they interpret that redefinition.