On Wednesday, the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced the theme for the 2025 Met Gala. The event will take place on the first Monday in May, meaning it will be held on May 5, 2025. The 2025 Met Gala Theme The 2025 Met Gala theme is “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” an expression of Black dandyism.
It is inspired by Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. The exhibit will be curated by Miller and Andrew Bolton of the Met Costume Institute.
Black dandyism, as described by Miller, is "a strategy and a tool to rethink identity, to reimagine the self in a different context. To really push a boundary — especially during the time of enslavement, to push a boundary on who and what counts as human, even." According to Vogue, the exhibit will explore “the style of Black men in the context of dandyism, from the 18th century through to the present.
” The announcement of this theme raises questions about how the Met will execute such a complex concept. Black Dandyism Explained Curator Shantrelle P. Lewis, in her book Dandy Lion, wrote, "The Victorian dandy movement coincided with the height of the transatlantic slave trade.
Consequently, the Black dandy entered Western history when enslaved Africans were made to dress up extravagantly to represent their owners." However, she continues, “the luxuriously dressed servants became more than status symbols when they personalised their u.