Tailoring Black Style: What To Know About The Met Gala 2025 Theme

Today is the first Monday of May. For many this year that’s simply Cinco de Mayo, and for the fashion-obsessed like myself, it’s Met Gala Monday. 

Vogue does many things around this event, but clearly educating the public of what the event actually is is not one of them. While the event seems to be another moment for celebrities to peacock across a carpet, the night is actually a fundraising event for the Costume Institute. 

The fashion exhibit that is featured each year for the public (following the Met Gala) in the Metropolitan Museum of Art is created and curated by The Costume Institute, with this year’s exhibit called “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” This exhibit will “take the Black dandy as its subject, examining the importance of clothing and style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora.” 

The Met Gala itself is the evening of fundraising that has now become one of the biggest red carpets of the year, though in the beginning individuals simply wore something (fancy) from their closet, or a designer lent them an outfit that was already made versus the custom, one-of-a-kind expectations we’re now familiar with. What confuses most is that this event has its own dress code connected to the exhibit, this year’s being “Tailored For You.” 

While I am not personally educated enough to go into the history of the Black dandy, I am fascinated with (and slightly addicted to) the lead-up coming from Vogue this year – the covers, the editorials, the behind-the-scenes look from those involved…. that is what I want to unpack.

The Covers

To my knowledge, Vogue has never created a print issue with the exhibit’s theme prominently featured outside of one individual article, let alone the cover. For the May 2025 print issues, Vogue has not one but four covers featuring the event’s co-chairs – A$AP Rocky, Pharell Williams, Lewis Hamilton, and my personal favorite male fashion figure, Colman Domingo. 

I don’t know about you, but when I think of menswear and the men who genuinely care about style and have an impact on others’ style (whether you like that style or not), these four have absolutely changed the game.

The Meaning Behind the Editorials

These covers and the inside editorials were styled by Law Roach. Even if you don’t know who Law is, you’ve likely seen his work. He’s been the stylist behind Zendaya for roughly 13 years, as well as many other celebrities like Kerry Washington, Hunter Schafer, and Tom Holland. 

On the surface, these covers and editorials are absolutely beautiful on their own. But when you hear from Law himself, you understand that none of these images were done “just because.” Let’s take this editorial image of A$AP. 

While it may just look like a cool image on a NYC stoop, it’s actually a recreation, down to the stoop it seems, of a photograph of Langston Hughes. Or the editorial image of the tartan couple, inspired by the iconic red carpet duo of Sarah Jessica Parker and Alexander McQueen from the 2006 Met Gala. 

While menswear is absolutely having a more broadstream moment right now, these editorials do a wonderful job reflecting and honoring the long-standing history of Black culture’s impact in the menswear space.

I cannot pick a favorite, but I think the image that stood out the most for me because of the individuals in it was the one with Spike Lee, Lana Turner, Dapper Dan and Daryl Dismond. The impact these four have had – whether it’s Lee’s impeccable visual storytelling in his movies, Turner’s style showcasing what a Harlem socialite can embody, Dan’s re-embodiment of luxury fashion and hip hop, or it being “OK” for a man like Dismond to be the face of American fashion – goes far beyond one category, medium, culture or city. If any image speaks a thousand words, this image speaks one million. 

It’s worth also showing some of Roach’s other looks, including musicians Jon Batiste and Akeem Ali, athletes like Aja Wilson and Justin Jefferson, models Adut Akech and Tyson Beckford, and actors like Naomi Ackie, Aaron Pierre, Ayo Edebiri and LaKeith Stanfield.

One thing missing for me, though, is André Leon Talley. Yes, Anna talks about this “dandy among the dandies” in her editor’s letter, and The Costume Institute will have some of his pieces in the exhibit. But I do think if there was any time to give this man his much deserved Vogue cover, this was it. 

I cannot predict what will happen on the red carpet, but I am confident that this year’s exhibit and red carpet will be history making. 

And while individuals like Jack Schlossberg are planning to “boycott” this year because of the seriousness of the world, I am one of many who believe that moments like this that fund the arts are more important than ever. Especially the year that is putting the history of black tailoring and its impact on a global stage. 

I will be watching every single moment of it with natural curiosity, ready to learn more stories behind the individuals that attend, the designers that create, and hungry for all of its beauty.