2025 Met Gala gets underway with focus on Black menswear and dandyism

The Associated Press

· Posted: May 05, 2025 6:56 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 minutes ago

Celebrities began to flood to the Metropolitan Museum of Art successful their tailored champion connected a rainy Monday successful New York to footwear disconnected the archetypal Met Gala to absorption exclusively connected Black designers, and the archetypal successful much than 20 years to person a menswear theme. 

The gala, a foundation lawsuit and fundraiser for the Met's Costume Institute, has traditionally been timed to people the opening of its yearly manner exhibition, which is "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" this year. 

Colman Domingo, 1 of the evening's hosts, wore a pleated, golden adorned cape implicit a grey suit. His look evoked the precocious Andre Leon Talley, the manner icon who made past arsenic a uncommon Black exertion astatine Vogue.

Domingo arrived with Vogue's Anna Wintour, the mastermind of the gala, dressed successful babe blue.

In summation to those two, the co-chairs of the lawsuit are Formula One operator Lewis Hamilton and musicians A$AP Rocky and Pharrell Williams. 

"I privation it to consciousness similar the astir epic nighttime of power," Williams, who is besides the Louis Vuitton menswear director, told Vogue recently. "A reflection of Black resiliency successful a satellite that continues to beryllium colonized, by which I mean policies and authorities that are thing abbreviated of that."

The reddish carpet for fashion's biggest nighttime officially started at 6 p.m. ET. Early arrivals included Emma Chamberlain successful a pinstripe gown and Teyana Taylor, who went for a stunning Zoot Suit look with a red, feather-adorned apical chapeau and a immense matching cape dripping with flowers and bling.

The authoritative formal codification for gala guests is "Tailored for You," inspired by Black dandyism. 

It's "a motion to the exhibition's absorption connected suiting and menswear, from circumstantial silhouettes to assorted fabrics and accessories — that is purposefully designed to some supply guidance and invitation originative interpretation," according to a property release.

NBA superstar LeBron James was slated to be the lawsuit for the archetypal clip aft being announced arsenic honorary co-chair, but said Monday helium would person to bow retired owed to the sprained genu helium suffered successful the Lakers' season-ending Game 5 nonaccomplishment to the Timberwolves. 

"Hate to miss an humanities event!" helium said successful a station connected X connected Monday, adding that his wife, Savannah, would inactive attend.  

This year, organizers announced they would besides beryllium resurrecting the contented of a "host committee," made up of stars successful a wide scope of fields: athletes Simone Biles and hubby Jonathan Owens; Angel Reese and Sha'Carri Richardson; filmmakers Spike Lee, Tonya Lewis Lee and Regina King; actors Ayo Edebiri, Audra McDonald and Jeremy Pope; musicians Doechii, Usher, Tyla, Janelle Monae and Andre 3000; writer Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie; artists Jordan Casteel, Rashid Johnson and Kara Walker; playwrights Jeremy O. Harris and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins; and manner figures Grace Wales Bonner, Edward Enninful, Dapper Dan and Olivier Rousteing.   

The gala raises the bulk of the curation fund for the museum's Costume Institute. But the glitzy event, with its accent connected high-end manner and big-budget stars, has faced criticisms for decades that it is simply a parade of wealthiness that draws attraction from different issues.

On Monday, pro-Palestinian protesters massed connected the streets adjacent the Met Gala, waving flags and chanting "Free Palestine."

Inside tonight's theme

The taxable of the gala is inspired by the yearly outpouring exhibition, which this twelvemonth is based successful ample portion connected Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, a publication by Monica L. Miller that looks astatine the governmental coding of benignant wrong the Black community. 

Miller is impermanent curator of the exhibit, which opens to the nationalist connected Saturday. 

"Historical manifestations of dandyism scope from implicit precision successful formal and tailoring to flamboyance and fabulousness successful formal and style," Miller wrote in the grounds catalogue.

"Whether a dandy is subtle oregon spectacular, we admit and respect the deliberateness of the dress, the self-conscious display, the scope for tailored perfection, and the sometimes subversive self-expression."   

It's the archetypal Costume Institute accumulation since 2003's "Men successful Skirts" to absorption exclusively connected menswear. 

How the formal codification astatine the gala goes, successful presumption of sensation and style, is anyone's guess. Wintour has a manus successful virtually each things gala, truthful the presumption is things can't spell excessively acold disconnected the rails. She precocious knocked down the rumour that she approves each looks, telling Good Morning America she'll measurement successful if asked.    

The grounds draws connected different sources beyond Miller's book. It's organized into 12 sections, each symbolizing a diagnostic of dandy benignant arsenic defined by Zora Neale Hurston successful her 1934 essay, "Characteristics of Negro Expression."

Among them: ownership, presence, distinction, disguise, freedom, respectability and heritage. Assuming gala guests — oregon their stylists — person done their research, immoderate of these factors are expected to play retired connected the depository steps which service arsenic the event's reddish carpet. 

The impermanent database amounts to astir 450 high-profile radical from technology, sports, art, amusement and more. The mix, Williams says, is simply a must.

"It's truthful important to maine to person palmy Black and brownish radical of each stripe successful the room: not conscionable athletes and actors and actresses, entertainers, but besides authors, architects, folks from the fintech world," helium told Vogue.

"We've got to put successful each other. We've got to link with each other, due to the fact that it's going to instrumentality everybody to coalesce the unit of Black and brownish genius into 1 strong, reliable force."

The gala had already raised a grounds $31 cardinal US, Metropolitan Museum of Art CEO Max Hollein said Monday — the archetypal clip the fundraiser for the Met's Costume Institute has crossed the $30 cardinal US people and eclipsing past year's haul of much than $26 cardinal US.