A trailblazing gala, the 2025 Met Gala will spotlight the evolution of Black dandyism and its contributions to the history of fashion. The event's theme was unveiled on October 9 this year: " Superfine: Tailoring Black Style ," inspired by Monica L. Miller 's 2009 book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.
This spring at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute will be "Looking for the Sartorial Legacy of Black Men". The theme will examine dandyism as a prismatic lens to understand the shifting intersections of fashion, identity, and politics from the 18th century to today. Dandyism, once a term used to refer to meticulous men who attended to their clothing, has been synonymous with black men since its term originated in the 1780s.
Miller describes dandyism as "liberating slavery, freeing bondage": a means of self-fashioning often imposed upon and adopted by Black people living with the constraints of politics and society. This show will critically discuss how Black dandyism has always shaped identity, representation, and even the wider discourse around race, class, gender, and sexuality. From 18th-century clothing on enslaved people to modern garments exploring Black dandyism, which becomes a means of expression, this year's exhibit will host all kinds of different historical and contemporary clothing, moving between history and current, owing to exhibits that elaborate on further concepts like ownership, juke, and cosmopol.
