The Met Gala 2025 Theme Has Just Been Announced
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2 months ago
What to expect from the biggest night in global fashion
The first Monday of May is a big deal for the fashion world. Every year, celebrities from across the globe flock to The Metropolitan Museum of Art (and its famous red carpet) to celebrate the opening of its spring exhibition with a night of couture, on-theme dressing. It’s nothing short of spectacular – and with the end of the year approaching, plans for the 2025 Met Gala are in full swing. Here’s everything you need to know.
The Met Gala 2025: All The Details
What Is The 2025 Met Gala Theme?
Inspired by The Costume Institute’s spring 2025 exhibition, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, the Met Gala theme will delve into the sartorial legacy of the Black Dandy. Presenting a cultural and historical examination of this cultural figure, from Enlightenment Europe in the 18th century to modern day global trendsetters, the exhibition will explore how clothing has shaped Black identities within the Atlantic diaspora.
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‘The Costume Institute’s spring 2025 exhibition will explore – with remarkable scale and breadth –the importance of sartorial style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora,’ explained Max Hollein, The Met’s Marina Kellen French Director and Chief Executive Officer. ‘Through a diverse range of media, this groundbreaking presentation will also celebrate the power of style as a democratic tool for rejecting stereotypes and accessing new possibilities.’
The theme and exhibition will also draw on co-curator Monica Miller’s 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, as well as the 12 principles outlined in Zora Neale Hurston’s 1934 essay, The Characteristics of Negro Expression. Looking to fashion, photography, art and film, it will look at how Black dandyism presents both a style and a political statement.
‘Fashion and dress have been used in a contest of power and aesthetics for Black people from the time of enslavement to the present, and dandyism has long served as a vehicle through which one can manipulate the relationship between clothing, identity, and power,’ said Guest Curator, Monica L. Miller. ‘The history of Black dandyism illustrates how Black people have transformed from being enslaved and stylized as luxury items, acquired like any other signifier of wealth and status, to autonomous, self-fashioning individuals who are global trendsetters. This exhibition will explore concepts that define Black dandyism specifically and uncover elements of productive tension that appear when considering the figure – such as ownership, authority and self-possession, ease, exaggeration, freedom, transgression, dissonance, and spectacularity. It will also highlight the aesthetic playfulness that the dandy engenders and the ways in which sartorial experimentation gestures at both assimilation and distinction – all while telling a story about self and society.’
It’s also worth noting that the 2025 theme marks the first exhibition focused on men since 2003’s Men in Skirts.
‘Over the last few years, menswear has undergone somewhat of a Renaissance,’ commented Andrew Bolton, Curator in Charge, The Costume Institute. ‘At the vanguard of this revitalization is a group of extremely talented Black designers who are constantly challenging normative categories of identity. While their styles are both singular and distinctive, what unites them is a reliance on various tropes that are rooted in the tradition of dandyism, and specifically Black dandyism. It was this observation that led me to research the Black dandy’s origins and, ultimately, to Monica’s pioneering work on the subject. In her role as guest curator, Monica visualizes the history of Black dandyism through a wide range of objects and invites us to explore the figure of the Black dandy as much as an idea as an identity.’
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Who Are The Co-Chairs?
Alongside Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, the 2025 Met Gala will be co-chaired by Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky and Pharrell Williams. NBA legend LeBron James will serve as honorary chair.
What Is The Met Gala?
Established in 1948 by fashion publicist Eleanor Lambert, the Met Gala is an annual fundraiser held for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. Coinciding with the opening of the museum’s spring exhibition, guests are expected to dress up based on the year’s exhibition theme in a formal and haute couture style – making it one of the most glamorous fashion events on the yearly calendar. Since 1995, the event has been co-chaired by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
When & Where Is The Met Gala?
The Met Gala is held every year in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. As per tradition, it is held on the first Monday of May, to mark the opening of the Costume Institute’s annual fashion exhibition – and the next gala falls on 5 May 2025.
Who Attends?
Unlike other charity events, the Met Gala is invitation-only – and there’s usually a waiting list to get a ticket. It’s usually attended by celebrities and personalities spanning the arts, fashion, film, music, sports and high society.
Can You Watch Last Year’s?
Miss out on the fun last year? Don’t worry, you can still watch the events of the 2024 Met Gala below:
When Does The Met Gala Exhibition Open?
When: 10 May – 26 October 2025
Where: 1000 5th Avenue, New York, NY 10028 (Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Exhibition Hall, Gallery 999 Floor 2)
BOOK: metmuseum.org
Featured image: Usher at the Met Gala 2024, in custom-made Alexander McQueen by Sean McGirr. (Photo by Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue; courtesy of Alexander McQueen)
