The Met Gala 2025: Tailoring Black Style as Protest and Inspiration

I watched the red carpet of the Met Gala on @voguemagazine. I love that this year's theme was "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style." I was mesmerized. The theme posthumously honored Vogue editor André Leon Talley while also paying tribute to dandies. The detail, tailoring, and innovation provided an escape from the dizzying reality that is 2025. I was energized and intoxicated by the melanin hues of mocha, caramel, and espresso and the freedom of expression and creativity. This was an escape. An escape from the exhausting reality that is the chaos of 2025 and the dismantling of democracy and unraveling of all the work done in the past decades to create an environment welcoming of the individuality being celebrated last night.

And so, I opined, people don't get dressed up anymore. I know times have changed and many of us work from home and struggle to be presentable if only from the waist up. Those that commute to work often dress for comfort and little else, elevating loungewear to a professional standard. People wear their pajamas out in public - to Home Goods, the grocery store, out to lunch. Folks wear hair bonnets (or “do-rags”) pretty much anywhere with no regrets. Long gone are the days of vanity when someone would be horrified to be seen in public with their hair undone. We are a long way from making dandyism the daily norm, but I guess there is something to be said for individual freedom. I'm not here to judge.

At its inception, dandyism was not only a form of self-expression and creativity. Its origins lay in a form of protest and resistance against social injustice and inequity. Black people reclaimed their dignity by weaponizing their physical appearance and having their clothes command the respect society denied them as enslaved and former enslaved individuals. It was a way for folks to stand up as "proper" and deserving of the rights they were so often denied.

The historical significance of dandyism reminds us that fashion can be both personal expression and political statement. When we consider today's casual approach to appearance against this backdrop, we might wonder what we're communicating - or failing to communicate - through our collective sartorial choices.

The Met Gala was a fabulous display. An escape. A distraction. But also, a motivator and an inspiration to identify some small opportunity each day to show up in protest. Perhaps in our own ways, we too can reclaim the power of presentation, using our appearance as both armor and art in challenging times.