The Metropolitan Museum of Art announced on October 9, 2024, that its 2025 Costume Institute exhibition would be called “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” The Met Gala that opens the show carries the same name.
The exhibition belongs to the Anna Wintour Costume Center, the wing of the museum that houses the Costume Institute’s collection.
The subject is Black style and the history of dandyism, a look at how clothing shaped Black identities.
What the show covered
Guest curator Monica L. Miller built the exhibition on her book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. In a statement issued when the show was announced, she wrote that “fashion and dress have been used in a contest of power and aesthetics for Black people from the time of enslavement to the present.”
The institute said it was the first exhibition in more than 20 years to focus only on menswear. It opened May 10 and ran through October 26, free with museum admission.
One piece on view: a pair of bright green sequined men’s trousers by Edvin Thompson for his label Theophilio.
The gala
The dress code was “Tailored for You.” Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams and Anna Wintour served as co-chairs, with LeBron James as an honorary chair.
Before the event, a commentator named Hughes told CBS she hoped designers would bring archival pieces from Black designers such as Patrick Kelly or Willi Smith. She called the show “incredibly significant,” because it was the first time the Met had centered Black identity and Black designers.
Sources
- Superfine: Tailoring Black Style – Wikipedia
- What was the 2025 Met Gala theme? "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" explained
