What Is Black Dandyism? the 2025 Met Gala Theme, Explained

Fashion’s biggest night of the year has finally arrived.

The 2025 Met Gala will take place Monday night at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Every year, celebrities flock to the gala for the annual fundraiser, which raises money for the museum’s Costume Institute, in high-fashion ensembles.

The Met Gala has a different theme each year. For the 2025 event, it’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” As reported by Vogue, the theme was designed to celebrate menswear and Black dandyism, which is both a style and an ethos that dates back to the 18th century.

Here’s everything you need to know about Black dandyism and how the Met Gala will honor it.

Black dandyism, explained

Put simply, a dandy is a man who’s dressed sharply. He’s refined, has excellent manners, and is perfectly groomed.

Beau Brummell, a figure of Regency England, is widely considered the first dandy. His care for his personal appearance inspired other men of the late 18th and 19th centuries to employ good hygiene and experiment with trendy garments, leaving behind aristocratic ways of dressing.

Black dandyism, though, goes beyond fashion and aesthetics.

As Ty Gaskins reported for Vogue, what’s often described as a style is better defined as a “fashion revolution” — one that’s simultaneously an act of protest, a creation of culture, and a celebration of individuality for Black men.

“In a world where Black people have been marginalized, the dandy became a figure who defied the rigid categories of race and class that sought to confine them,” Gaskins wrote.

Black dandyism grew in the post-Emancipation era, when former slaves and servants took on dandyism — or dressing in sharp suits, polished shoes, and accessories like hats and ties — as a form of assertion by assimilation.

However, Vogue reported that the movement truly blossomed during the Harlem Renaissance when figures like Langston Hughes and Cab Calloway emerged, changing both society at large and Black dandyism specifically.

Their work and outfits inspired modern stars like André 3000 to embrace Black dandyism as a signature style and essence. Movies like “Sinners” have also embraced Black dandyism this year.

Colman Domingo and other stars will bring this theme to life

When Vogue announced the 2025 Met Gala theme in October, it reported that it took inspiration from Monica Miller’s book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity,” published in 2009.

Both the theme and the Costume Institute’s Spring exhibition will examine the impact style had on the Black diaspora, zeroing in on Black dandyism.

The Met Gala itself has never focused on menswear, and the museum’s forthcoming exhibit is only the second in the Costume Institute’s history to do so, following its “Men in Skirts” exhibit, which ran from November 2003 to February 2004.

The 2025 Met Gala also has a “Tailored For You” dress code, designed to encourage attendees to honor the theme and reflect their personal style.

This year’s Met Gala co-chairs — Lewis Hamilton, Pharrell Williams, Colman Domingo, and ASAP Rocky — will help to set the tone for the night with their looks, as all are known for their high-fashion approaches to menswear.

Vogue said it hopes attendees take “creative interpretation” of the dress code, though suits and accessories typically associated with men, from pocket squares to statement hats, will be popular on the red carpet.