Updated May 5, 2025 at 3:55 PM EDT
When attendees hit the red carpet of this year's Met Gala, they'll be dazzling in stunning looks that pay homage to the history, defiance and cultural influence of Black style.
The theme for the 2025 Gala is "Tailored for You", with the event honoring and exploring the fashion narrative and history of the Black dandy. This theme was reinforced by the gala's "Tailored for You" dress code — which is inspired by the 18th century dandy. Clothing will focus on menswear and tailored suiting. The focus on Black Dandyism — an aesthetic and cultural tradition rooted in defiance, elegance, and self-definition — allows this year's gala to be more than a fundraiser. It's a reclamation for many people. The title for this year's Costume Institute Spring Exhibit is titled "Superfine: Tailoring for Black Style."
In an interview with Morning Edition, Ruth E. Carter, who in 2018 became the first Black woman to win an Oscar for costume design says the theme is a powerful tribute to a legacy often overlooked in mainstream fashion circles.
With her acclaimed costume design work on projects like Black Panther, Malcom X, and Amistad, over her career Carter has on numerous occasions crafted looks for film and TV productions that offer varying versions of Black dandy style.
"Black Dandyism is a form of performance, identity, and individuality," Carter told NPR's Michel Martin. "It's how we define ourselves. It's a cultural declaration—male or female, or any gender. It's genderless."
From Colonization to Couture
Historically, the figure of the dandy often conjures images of European aristocrats like Beau Brummell or F. Scott Fitzgerald's Gatsby character.Black Dandyism serves as a tool for Black Americans to express themselves, allowing them to regain control of their agency and personal narratives.
For Black communities, dressing fine has long been a form of resistance—sartorial activism that threads self-worth, rebellion, and creativity into every seam.
"It's garments of protest. It's the garments of freedom," Carter said."When you think about the zoot suit riots of the 1940s, you're looking at Black and Latino men who were attacked just for wearing wide-legged trousers and long chains. That was fashion as resistance. That was an expression of provocation."
Monica L. Miller, a professor at Barnard College and guest curator for the Met exhibition, wrote the book on how the Black community has used fashion as a vehicle to express themselves — Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. Miller traces how enslaved Africans were sometimes forced to dress in luxurious garb by their enslavers, turning them into walking advertisements of their owners' wealth. But in a profound twist, Black communities later appropriated that very aesthetic, using style as a declaration of agency and self-definition.
Carter sees this moment at the Met as a culmination of those acts of reclamation. "It's about celebration as much as rebellion," she said. "It's a full-circle moment."
Tailoring as Testimony
From Ma Rainey's feathered hats to the structured suits of Duke Ellington and Malcolm X, Carter notes that the Black dandy can be found across generations— and genders. "You can be finely tailored and represent power, identity, and individuality," she said.
"That same cane and top hat we associate with male dandies were worn by women like Madam C.J. Walker. We've always stylized our lives, even when we couldn't afford to."
The idea that style is tied to power and identity is woven through Carter's own work, especially in her latest film Sinners, in which Michael B. Jordan plays twin brothers navigating Jim Crow-era Mississippi with Chicago swagger. Their sharp suits, Carter explains, signal more than fashion—they reflect upward mobility, diasporic identity, and a sense of having made it despite the odds.
"They had worked for Al Capone, swindled money and booze, and came back to the Mississippi Delta with power," Carter explained. "It's reverse migration. And their look tells that story."
A Showcase of Black Fashion History
For Carter, the night is a tribute to the centuries of influence Black communities have had on fashion — often with limited resources but unlimited imagination.
"It's about how we stylize trends from Harlem to Chicago to Texas," Carter said. "It's about how we made a way out of no way."
And as Black fashion takes center stage at arguably the most prestigious fashion event in the world, Carter sees a powerful convergence between costume design, storytelling, and celebrating the history of Black fashion.
"This Met Gala will be unlike any other," she says. "It's our full dimensionality on display."
The audio version of this story was produced and edited by Destinee Adams and Mohamad ElBardicy.
Copyright 2025 NPR
