The 2025 Met Gala was held on May 5 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, commonly referred to as “The Met,” in New York City. The Met Gala is a fashion event focused on its extravagant dress codes and illustrious attendees. Every year has a different theme for the attendees to dress as, with this year’s theme being “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.”
The theme is meant to highlight African American designers and tailors and recognize the historical style of black fashion. This style is commonly called black dandyism and dates back to the late 1700s. Tailoring became a way to reclaim dignity for oppressed black people under enslavement and colonialism.
Junior Perle Fwamini said, “This fashion style came from dressing up luxuriously even though they were oppressed in society. It’s a lot of bold patterns, really aristocratic, regal and formal. I think the theme was amazing because it gave black culture a chance to shine in the fashion world.”
The Met Gala is one of the biggest fashion events in the world. Its creative themes spark further creativity and originality with the guests. A good Met Gala outfit can cement a celebrity in the public eye for the better. It gives people a glance into their thought process and their ideas as a person.
Fwamini said, “Janelle Monáe definitely wore my favorite outfit because it was just so creative. No one else on the carpet wore anything remotely similar to hers, and it’s so suited to her specific style while being so in tune with the theme.”
Janelle Monáe is an African American singer, rapper and actress. She’s most known for her roles in popular movies that put black characters at the forefront and highlight injustice, such as “Hidden Figures,” “Harriet” and “Antebellum.” Her outfit to this year’s Met Gala is bound to go down in fashion history. When she first appeared on the carpet, she was wearing a large, red and white cover that hid her whole body. It created an optical illusion from the image of a suit stitched onto it. As a big reveal, she dropped the cover to show a real suit with bold patterns. It was red on the left side, and black and white on the right.
Counterwise, a bad Met Gala outfit can put a celebrity under fire from the public. With every gala comes a few attendees who don’t dress to the theme or don’t put any effort in. These people put a bad taste in the public’s mouth.
Fwamini said, “Hailey Bieber was my least favorite because she just showed up with a plain black suit, tights and heels. It looked really lazy. There was no thought behind it, no creative process. It was just plain and boring.”
The gala is known for its exclusivity. Celebrity guests have to be invited personally, with tickets costing $75,000 this year. Ticket prices have been on a trend of rising $25,000 every few years. Fashion icon Anna Wintour is the head chairwoman of the event and approves the guest list personally.
Fwamini said, “I think that [the supermodel] Wisdom Kaye should have been invited. He was invited last year, and this year’s theme is so him. He would have totally knocked it out of the park, but for some reason he didn’t get an invitation. Also, it surprised me that Kamala Harris was invited. I didn’t know that you could even invite politicians, but that was interesting.”
The money raised from the Met Gala goes to the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute, also known as the Anna Wintour Costume Center. The Costume Center essentially acts as a fashion museum, representing seven centuries of fashion and all manners of dress. They focus on the preservation of fashion and its long history. The Costume Institute is the only department of the Met that raises its own money, with the Met Gala being its primary source of funding. This year, the gala raised a record-breaking amount of money: $31 million.
