The Met Gala is Rooting for Everybody Black (Dandy)
Gather ’round gang, it’s almost the first Monday of May.
Which means the biggest night in fashion—the 2025 Met Gala—is upon us. It also means my DMs are about to be flooded with my favourite annual question:
“What’s the theme this year?”
Every year, the Met Gala theme gets the people going—from wild interpretations to even wilder reactions. For the most part, it’s easy enough for fashion people, et non, to grasp. (Except 2019. I think everyone was pretty fine pretending they got it…until Cara Delevingne pulled up in that rainbow Dior jumpsuit with a headpiece that looked like a dental clown school display.)
I personally didn’t mind it—but the internet is not a warm place if your look isn’t immediately digestible. Et God forbid you're off theme.
Inspired by Monica L. Miller’s exceptional fashion theory book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, this year’s official title is Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. Et if you knew about the book, it might make sense.
But if not, it may lead you—like some of the analytical people at my job—to believe this year’s Met Gala is about…black suits.
Aw.
So, like, what is Black dandyism?
Shirt, vest et trousers: INDOCHINO
In Slaves to Fashion, Monica L. Miller describes Black dandyism as both style et strategy. Culturally, “looking like somebody,” as my mother would say, is deeply ingrained in the Black experience. From Easter Sunday to the first day of school, being on your best sartorial behaviour is taught early. Our fashion habits, our compliments, our reimaginings—they all speak to that lineage.
We don’t make the rules, but we do make the trends.
Now, trigger warning—it’s about to get political:
Historically, Black people have long used clothing to assert individuality et, in many cases, liberty. But we haven’t always been allowed the same (safe) spaces to do so.
Shirt, vest, trousers: INDOCHINO, Tie: I made it!! Clap for me.
Jewellery: So Stylé
Black dandyism is the way Black people—but predominantly men—have used fashion to negotiate visibility et power while further stylizing the Black identity. With its defiance of the monolithic understandings of Black masculinity et its complicated place between the masculine et the feminine, the dandy–in his top hat, cravat et double-breasted blazer–is countercultural resistance. The dandy–with his redeployment of clothing, gesture et wit–is the It Boy of the sartorial revolution.
Wonder why it slaps so much harder when a Black man compliments your kicks? Or why his three fire emojis in response to your OOTD rewired your brain chemistry? It’s because Black men built their style reputations on the backs of innovators no one paid attention to—until they couldn’t be ignored. Because their taste was forged by ancestors who didn’t have wealth, social standing or elite fashion access, but in its absence, still made shit shake hard enough that the Met is throwing a gala in their honor.
Shirt, vest, trousers: INDOCHINO, Tie: I made it!! Clap for me.
Jewellery: So Stylé
That is Black dandyism. The response to the cosmopolitanism our ancestors were forced into et necessarily reimagined. Ye know, your super casual self-fashioning political movement that still exists today.
While some style statements are rooted in novelty (no disrespect to the pink pussyhats or Dior feminist tees), Black dandyism is where the taste resides. It’s the integration of European menswear—a tradition we were once excluded from—with our own homegrown aesthetics. Like never giving up how we adorn ourselves in jewelry. A nod to how our African ancestors arrived in the States in nothing but beads wrapped around their arms et waist.
It looks like the Harlem Renaissance which birthed the “New Negro.” An iconic cultural movement when Black people flourished in art, literature et civil rights action. When Black men (et women) started—as Monica L. Miller puts it—stylin’ out in ways that challenged the mainstream ideals of Black people’s uncivility.
Writers Alain Locke et Richard Bruce Nugent are notable style figures of this time. Locke, who combined European tailoring with a sharp Black modernist presence et Nugent whose bohemian personal style was far ahead of its time.
Across the diaspora, Black Dandyism shows up as Les Sapeurs, the Congolese cultural movement of dandies who distinguish themselves with flamboyant tailoring. The Black British dandies who sprinkled West Indian flair with their Savile Row polish in the 40s, et the Agbada-wearing Nigerian dandies.
Black dandyism also travels through time with a long history bubbling up from the Atlantic Slave Trade moving right up to postmodern dandyism. Think: Busta Rhymes’ afrofuturism, Prince’s sexually ambiguous glam, Fonzworth Bentley’s From G’s to Gents, Kanye’s pink polo era or even A$AP Rocky beating a case then pulling up to pose in front of the Langston Hughes House in a polka-dot Balmain suit.
Headwrap: Pretty sure this is my moms, Jumpsuit: Zara, Shirt et tie: INDOCHINO, Jewellery: So Stylé
Tbh, this year’s invitees have a looot to work with, et a ton of history they could honor if they so choose, but the vastness of where one can take this theme, leaves a lot of room for missteps as well. Despite ‘tailoring’ being in the name, this is far from the night for a nice suit or safe tuxedo. Suiting will be present, as it is at every Met, but we can’t forget the new et cultural iterations of dandyism: capes, embellishment, traditional garb, structured hats, afrofuturism.
We also mustn't forget that this isn’t just about the clothes. There’s rich memory, story et emotion within this theme. So the girls better be able to pronounce designer names, et give us a 2-4 sentence blurb on the rhyme et reason behind their look.
Hat: Roots, Earrings: So Stylé, Tank: Zara, Bangles: Thrifted, Cummerbund: Borrowed, Tuxedo pants: INDOCHINO, Pumps: L’intervalle
To make this a Met worthy of the Black men who founded this very subject, Met Gala goers are going to have to think big, bitch. There’s historical weight at play here. Et I’ll be downright dismayed if we have another In America: A Lexicon of Fashion (2021) on our hands.
At the same time–et since vintage is all the rage rn–we can’t just let the archives be the look without a why. Leave the lazy references for the music stages et editorials!
This year’s Met Gala, like others, isn’t just about fashion or the meme-y moments that are sure to follow (whoever has the “Jason Derulo just fell down the stairs” meme ready, it’s okay. Just go on ahead et delete it. We’ve had enough.) It’s about Black history.
Et like every other year, I’ll be watching. Judging. (Not in stained pjs on my couch like that other Met Gala meme says though. I have self respect et whimsy in my life.) Et hopefully filing new fashion moments into the ‘rent free’ section of my mind.
See y’all on the steps (read: Instagram)
Photographer: HerFlySoul
