On May 5th, the Met Gala returns with Superfine: Tailoring Black Style—a bold, history-rich theme that sets the tone for The Costume Institute’s spring 2025 exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Opening to the public on May 10th, the exhibition traces 300 years of Black style through the lens of dandyism, exploring how tailoring has become both armor and art form across the Atlantic diaspora.
Curated by Andrew Bolton with guest curator Monica L. Miller, the exhibition presents fashion as cultural resistance and expression, organized into 12 thematic sections—from Ownership and Champion to Beauty and Cool. It includes garments, photographs, paintings, and objects that illuminate how clothing has historically offered Black individuals a means of self-definition, distinction, and defiance.
In our interview, Miller discusses how the show brings her 2009 book Slaves to Fashion to life. She reflects on tailoring not simply as a matter of cut or cloth, but as a way of reimagining identity. Read our full conversation with Miller, where she explores the exhibition’s conceptual depth and personal resonance.
Among the contemporary designers featured, Emeric Tchatchoua’s label 3.PARADIS appears across three sections. His standout piece, the A Dollar and a Dream blazer, tucks a real $1 bill into the pocket—a gesture toward hope, ambition, and resilience. A second design, featuring a dried flower bouquet in place of a handkerchief, becomes a poetic metaphor for gratitude and presence.
In the Heritage section, Samuel Boakye’s label Kwasi Paul navigates diasporic identity through heirloom tailoring. His bright orange trench and crimson pants speak to cultural duality and ancestral storytelling, shaped by his Ghanaian-American roots.
The 2025 Met Gala dress code, Tailored for You, nods to the exhibition’s celebration of menswear and personal expression. This year’s event will be co-chaired by Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams, and Anna Wintour, with LeBron James as honorary chair.
More than just fashion, Superfine invites us to reflect on style as power, legacy, and liberation. Ahead of this breathtaking exhibition, we invite you to read our conversation with Andrew Bolton OBE, the visionary curator behind the Costume Institute at The Met, whose groundbreaking approach has reshaped the fashion landscape.
Photography courtesy of THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM OF ART