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This year’s Met Gala broke fundraising records and paid homage to some unsung heroes of style. 

Words by James R. Sanders

“God created Black people, and Black people created style,” declared Colman Domingo at a press preview for ‘Superfine:  Tailoring Black Style.’ 

It’s been decided that Black men will be honored with a new exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. On style’s most famous night—also considered the Superbowl of fashion, everyone was talking about “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” 

The exhibit is based on Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity written by Columbia University professor of Africana Studies Monica L. Miller. She’s also this year’s guest curator, working with Andrew Bolton.

Her book covers a time in fashion she writes, when “the Atlantic slave trade and the rise of a culture of consumption created a vogue in dandified Black servants.”

Met Gala guests were encouraged to explore the concept of tailoring with a dress code that read, “Tailored for You,” furthering the interpretation of classic menswear through a unique lens. 

Bold colors, especially burgundies, crimsons, and oxbloods dripped on the museum’s famed stairway as a full choir opened the festivities. Teyana Taylor’s custom look from Ruth Carter—the only costume designer to take home multiple Academy Awards for her brilliant work in needle and thread land captivated. 

This year’s hosts included Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky and Pharrell Williams with Anna Wintour and LeBron James as honorary co-chairs. Vogue debuted several covers, some of which were shot by Tyler Mitchell who became the first Black photographer to shoot an American Vogue cover at the request of Beyonce. 

In Anna Wintour’s Letter from the Editor, she wrote about Andre Leon Talley’s interpretation of Dandyism. The two were once close. Talley ascended to the position of creative director of American Vogue for a time, before being let go from the publication. The editor died in 2022. 

Talley’s influence was felt even in spirit throughout the night as capes and kaftans dominated the theme—acting as a finishing point for the tailoring from some of fashion’s most brilliant Black visionaries. 

The iconic blue carpet was flooded with tributes to Vogue’s fiercest Dandy who brought church boy style to the couture runways of Paris and introduced Black Baptist sensibility to Diana Vreeland and Karl Lagerfeld just the same as they did he with editorial bourgeoise. 

Of these, most famously for the night, Colman Domingo came caped up the stairs in a royal blue pleated Valentino original. Just days previously, Doechii tributed a famous image of the editor in a Louis Vuitton tennis accessory collage. 

Indeed, In Loving Memory of Andre. He would have loved this. 

Dandyism focuses on tailoring, suiting, and the idea of “fine dressing” as being imposed on Black men, especially during eighteenth-century England, per Miller’s book.

This idea then evolved into a style that influenced what modern menswear has become. The exhibit, which will open on May 10, will include zoot suits, livery coats, and even luggage from the personal collection of Andre Leon Talley. 

“The fashion editor André Leon Talley had about 50 pieces of Louis Vuitton luggage that symbolized his success and arrival in an industry where he was often the first and only Black man,” Miller told the New York Times. “His monogrammed, hard-sided suitcases functioned as a glamorous shield for his personal effects.” Images of Talley and some of his garments are also part of the exhibit. 

This year’s host committee includes Andre 3000, Usher, Simone Biles, Dapper Dan, Doechii, Regina King, Spike Lee, Janelle Monáe, and Sha’Carri Richardson who said in a release, “I’m beyond excited to stand with my fellow Host Committee members in supporting The Met and this year’s spring Costume Institute exhibition, celebrating the undeniable impact of Black creativity on fashion and culture for centuries.” 

Best Dressed According to the Theme (in no order)

  1. Alton Mason in custom Gaurav Gupta
  2. Andra Day 
  3. Brian Tyree Henry
  4. Coleman Domingo in Valentino
  5. Damson Idris in Tommy Hilfiger
  6. Dapper Dan in Dapper Dan
  7. Doechii in Louis Vuitton 
  8. Jodie Turner-Smith in Burberry
  9. Keith Powers 
  10. Lupita Nyong’o in Chanel
  11. Stormzy 
  12. Teyana Taylor in Ruth Carter
  13. Tyler Mitchell in Wales Bonner
  14. Tracee Ellis Ross
  15. Ugbad Abdi

And of course, Rihanna in custom Marc Jacobs who through masterful tailoring, announced another pregnancy—hers and A$AP Rocky’s third. 

It should be noted that the Met Gala is still a fundraiser aiming to earn funds through a one night only dinner filled with fashion and celebrity — and this year’s gala has broken the record, raising $31 million. Last year’s event earned $26 million. Funds go towards the costume exhibit, which was renamed the Anna Wintour exhibit.

Photo Credit: Met Gala/Getty Images