Fashion historian Shelby Ivey Christie wasn't merely excited when the 2025 Met Gala theme, "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style," was announced last fall. "When I first heard the theme, I literally screamed," she tells Marie Claire via email. "As a costume historian focused on Black fashion contributions, this theme is the MOMENT we've been waiting for."
The all-caps are warranted. The May 5 event, which raises funds for the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute, marks a historic first for the most important red carpet of the year. Building upon the work of Barnard professor Monica L. Miller's 2009 book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, the 2025 Met Gala is the very first to revolve entirely around menswear, and one of the few in the museum's history to center Black designers. Considering the decades of influence Black men have had on today's understanding of tailoring, it's an exhibit rich with meaningful ways to honor overlooked corners of fashion history. "From the enslaved craftsmen who were forced to create refined garments while denied the right to wear them, to the Harlem Renaissance figures who weaponized immaculate tailoring as visual resistance—this theme has LAYERS," Christie says.
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