Met Gala Looks With Meaning
The red carpet shined a light on Black designers and creatives including Paul Tazewell, Ruth E. Carter and Grace Wales Bonner alongside big luxury names like Valentino, Prada, Tom Ford and Burberry.
Ah, the first Monday in May, fashion’s biggest costume party, you did not disappoint with your peacocking canes and cigars, Rihanna pregnancy reveal, Kamala Harris surprise appearance, and kooky accessories, namely Andre 3000’s album-promoting piano backpack.
I’ve seen some rumblings online complaining that the Met Gala 2025 red carpet was dominated by the usual European luxury brands too often topped by white male creatives. It’s true that the event celebrating the first Costume Institute exhibition focusing solely on Black designers, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” did have its share of those (chair Colman Domingo turned out in a Valentino cape, honoring the late Andre Leon Talley; Cynthia Erivo wore Givenchy and Cardi B chose Burberry). Those brands bought tables, of course, contributing to the record $31 million haul raised for the museum.
But that wasn’t the whole story.
Louis Vuitton was also a sponsor, with Black creative director Pharrell Williams designing for a number of guests, including Sabrina Carpenter and Doechii. And Balmain and Ferragamo, both helmed by Black designers, had a large presence on the carpet, with Olivier Rousteing dressing playwright and modern dandy Jeremy O. Harris in a 19th century dandy-looking tailcoat and trousers, and Maxmilian Davis outfitting fashion plate Ayo Edebiri in an inventive white silk shirt dress and black tailcoat with coral fringe harness, a look that paid homage to her churchgoing dandy dad she told Vogue.
There were also lots of looks by lesser-known, but just-as-deserving creatives.
Thom Browne was perhaps better suited than any designer for the “tailored to you” dress code, not to mention his better half is the Anna Wintour Costume Center chief curator Andrew Bolton. However, my favorite look of his Monday night was a deconstructed-reconstructed trompe l’oeil suite cape made in collaboration with Oscar-winner Paul Tazewell, the first Black man to win an Academy Award for Best Costume Design, for “Wicked.”
“From the very beginning of the design process—exploring the beautiful and important theme of the Black dandy—it was essential that tailoring be front and center,” Tazewell wrote on Instagram. “With Janelle’s expansive imagination and Thom Browne’s meticulous attention to every detail, this collaboration is just the beginning.” (Show me more!)
Tazewell also designed Chappell Roan’s incredible pink glam rock suit and cape, apparently made from an Ebay find, according to Vogue.
Tazewell wasn’t the only Hollywood costume designer to be tapped for the evening. Marc Jacobs worked with Oscar-winning Ruth E. Carter (“The Black Panther”) on a regal pinstripe suit, red vest and cape look worn by Teyana Taylor, inspired by her 2018 song “Rose in Harlem.”
It’s fitting that these immense design talents had exposure at the Met Gala, which will be followed up in October by Vogue World at Paramount Studios in Los Angeles, enlisting the help of several costume designers for the event.
Independent Black fashion designers were also well-represented, including the uber-talented, London-based Grace Wales Bonner. My favorite look of hers was for FKA Twigs, and it was inspired by trailblazing performer Josephine Baker. “Harlem Renaissance ballrooms and heritage French couture are united in a Swarovski crystal embroidered organza dress with ostrich-feather trim and a chiffon silk stole made in collaboration with Lemaire, feather and needlework specialists founded in 1880,” the designer wrote on Instagram.
Nigerian stylist and designer Ugo Mozie, who has worked for Maluma and Balmain and has the label Eleven Sixteen, designed the show-stopping look for Diana Ross, returning to the Met Gala for the first time in 22 years with her son Evan Ross. Keeping it in the family, the 18 foot train had the names of her children and grandchildren embroidered on it.
I loved seeing so many emerging designers getting their due as well, including LaQuan Smith who dressed Ciara in a gorgeous black cutout gown with draped crystals.
L.A.-based Charles Harbison outfitted Simone Biles, Audra McDonald and several others. My favorite look of his was a regal tailored gown for Mindy Kaling, featuring the Surrealist looking buttons he’s known for in his line Harbison Studio.
L.A.-based designer Sergio Hudson created looks for several guests, including Stevie Wonder and his family. Whoa! And being a fan of pink, I enjoyed Andra Day’s “Jypsy pink” tailored look by Jerome Lamaar. The style star and creative director, a veteran of Ivy Park and Baby Phat, drew on his experience as a tailor apprentice for Ralph Rucci, he wrote on Instagram, adding that he was inspired by everything from Zoot suits to Afrofuturism to Congolese Sapeurs for the color.
There was a lot of flamboyant menswear, of course, but Cole Escola’s Technicolor suit by New York designer Christopher John Rogers really suited their comic personality, and the “angelic flush” by makeup artist Sasha Borax was among the best beauty looks of the night.
A more subtle interpretation of the modern dandy came from Fear of God’s Jerry Lorenzo for Adrien Brody. The “Brutalist” star paired the minimal long black tail coat, tux pants and silk T-shirt with a floral brooch from Elsa Jin, his favored jewelry designer.
A few of the designer names were new to me, including London-based Torisheju Dumi, who created a reimagined menswear look for Kendall Jenner inspired by Gladys Bentley and the elegance of 1920s Harlem Renaissance women. The sharply tailored, draped jacket wrapped the waist in a nod to Nigerian wrapper traditions and the designer’s Nigerian upbringing. Kudos to Jenner and her stylist Gabriella Karefa-Johnson for platforming this talent, an alum of Alexander McQueen and Celine.
Speaking of that, I was happy to see that Rachel Scott, the CFDA Womenswear Designer of the Year, was represented at the Met Gala, sitting at the Nordstrom table and dressing Nordstrom fashion director Rickie de Sole. Like so many other hard-working designers in this challenging economic environment, Scott earned her seat and then some.
