Black Dandyism Takes Over the Met Gala 2025 with Tailored Elegance
- Jordyn Mayes
- May 6
- 5 min read
“Tailored For You” wasn’t just a dress code. It was a movement. A manifesto. A love letter to Black style, written in superfine wool, butter yellow satin, and beaded poetry. On the blue carpet of the 2025 Met Gala, the silhouettes were sharp, but the messages were even sharper. From the legends to the new-school, this year’s Met didn’t just celebrate fashion—it tailored the very fabric of history.
DIANA ROSS: THE DIVA RETURNS, DRAPED IN LEGACY
We begin with the legend. Miss Ross made her return to the Met after 22 years and she just didn’t walk the Met Gala carpet—she floated in a white gown with crystals, beads, and a feather trim with an 18-foot embroidered train that told a story only a mother and grandmother could. Every stitch bore a name: her children, her grandchildren, her dynasty. Designed by Ugo Mozie, the look weighed 60 pounds, but it carried 60 years of influence. “This isn’t just fashion,” Ross said on the carpet, “it’s family.” And we felt that.
ZENDAYA & DOECHII: PHARRELL’S LOUIS VUITTON POWER PLAY
Pharrell Williams had the girlies in formation this year with not one, but two jaw-dropping Louis Vuitton looks on reigning red carpet queen Zendaya and rap’s fearless frontwoman Doechii. Zendaya gave “regal with edge” in a structured three-piece LV suit with surreal shoulder pads and hand-stitched embroidery fit for a Black futurist detective while channeling Bianca Jagger and Diana Ross's work in 'Mahogany' (1975). Doechii kept it cheeky, sharp, and slick in a checkerboard LV tux with matching shorts, a mahogany tie, and a natural crown that sat like royalty. The LV logo stamped across her cheek? Icing on an already-perfect cake.
JANELLE MONÁE: SUITCEPTION
When you co-create a look with Oscar-winner Paul Tazewell and Thom Browne, expect a moment. Janelle Monáe gave us layers—literally. Her suit was a suit within a suit: pinstripe outerwear with a printed blazer and necktie, which she removed to reveal a fully tailored interior ensemble underneath. The pièce de résistance? A spinning monocle clock over one eye and an ethical diamond brooch made from 1800 Tequila, the first ever. Dandyism, but make it sustainably epic.
TEYANA TAYLOR: A MASTERPIECE IN MOTION
If Met looks are group projects, Teyana Taylor’s was co-designed with the professor herself—Ruth E. Carter. The Oscar-winning costume designer and the multi-hyphenate Taylor collaborated on a sculpted, sharply-cut masterpiece that fused Harlem Renaissance tailoring with streetwear edge. The result? A look that said “art history meets hip hop”—a sartorial flex and cultural statement in one.
LAURYN HILL: BUTTER YELLOW ICONOGRAPHY
It took 2025 for Ms. Lauryn Hill to make her Met debut—and she made it count. A sculptural cape, regal cut, and a yellow that glowed like gospel sunlight, Hill’s Jude Dontoh creation was part suit, part sermon. With a blue Hermès Kelly bag that matched the carpet, the look was a quiet storm. And the burgundy tie with amber pendant? Tea.
SHABOOZEY: TURQUOISE TEETH, BEADED BRILLIANCE
Shaboozey made his red carpet debut with full cowboy-meets-couture swagger. His turquoise grill gleamed, making a statement and setting the whole look off, while his beaded black suit elevated the look several notches. Every detail paid homage to Black Western pioneers, reflected today’s genre-bending spirit, and looked straight ahead to fashion’s future—he may have had the look of the night.
ALTON MASON: A STORM IN GAURAV GUPTA
Model and performer Alton Mason shined onto the carpet in a custom Gaurav Gupta piece that couldn't have looked better on anyone else. Suit, chest cutout, eye patch and all—the look was absolutely stunning. It was avant-garde tailoring that felt like a futuristic zoot suit from another planet—and Mason devoured in it.
JODIE SMITH & COCO JONES: SOFT POWER, HARD TAILORING
Jodie Turner-Smith went equestrian in custom Burberry, all detailed lines and red tones did not go unnoticed, with her hat being the ultimate statement piece, while Coco Jones brought regal brilliance to the Met in a stunningly embellished ivory look by Manish Malhotra. Both women leaned into the softer side of suiting—feminine, flowing, and fierce.
JENNA ORTEGA: DARK DANDY DARLING
Leave it to Jenna Ortega to make goth glam feel right at home on a carpet celebrating Black dandyism. The Wednesday actress stepped onto the Met steps as a living sculpture of precision and poetry. Designed by Olivier Rousteing for Balmain, her look was a masterclass in couture innovation—a sleek, metallic sheath made entirely from the very tools of the tailor’s trade. Each ruler, once used by patternmakers to measure and draft history into fabric, was reimagined as armor-like structure, arranged vertically to contour her frame and sculpt a modern bustier silhouette. It wasn’t just a gown—it was a tribute to the hands behind the seams, and to the art of making fashion fit like destiny.
CARDI B: DANDY GOES GREEN
Fresh off dropping her sixth Met look, Cardi arrived in an emerald Burberry suit with ruffled silk devoré accents and velvet trousers that screamed "Victorian vamp, but make it Bronx." The emerald contact lenses? Iconic. The back cutout showing her floral ink? Classic Cardi. Daniel Lee’s vision of a “tailored, feminine dandy” lived loud through her.
TESSA THOMPSON: THE SUIT WHISPERER
Wearing custom Prabal Gurung, Tessa Thompson delivered a look that screamed the theme, balancing art with history. A slim, asymmetrical cream suit hugged her frame, finished with a high-slit cape that paid homage to the late André Leon Talley. The church fan? Set it off.
LAURA HARRIER: GAP GOES GALA
In what may be Gap’s glow-up of the century, Laura Harrier stunned in custom Gap Studios by Zac Posen: a tailored waistcoat and cream satin palazzo trousers that nailed the “Tailored For You” theme with whisper-soft precision. Easy, elegant, and so wearable it broke the Met’s fourth wall.
AND STILL, WE RISE
This year’s Met Gala wasn’t just about who wore what. It was about why. In a year where the exhibition "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" spotlighted centuries of cultural resistance and reinvention, the blue carpet became a stage—and the fits, a form of freedom.
From custom cuts to couture tributes, this was a gala that proved Black style isn’t a trend. It’s a tradition. A revolution in stitches. And honey, it’s tailored for the future.
Who had your favorite look of the night?
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