Superfine Style: The Best-Dressed Gentlemen at the Met Gala

On the first Monday of May (at least in New York), the red carpet outside the Metropolitan Museum of Art becomes a canvas—a living fresco of fashion, identity, and cultural reckoning. This year, under the gilded dome of the Met Gala, menswear stepped into the spotlight with a confidence that felt less like novelty and more like return. The theme: Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, drew its contours from the exquisite grammar of Black dandyism, celebrating the act of dressing as an assertion of being. Not camouflage. Not costume. But clarity.

It is not often that the night belongs to the men. But in 2025, the men didn’t just arrive. They performed—each look a carefully tuned note in a symphony of fabric, history, and intent.

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A$AP Rocky in AWGE

Rocky, co-chair and ever the sartorial oracle, emerged as if conjured from the streets of Harlem through a lens both nostalgic and reengineered. His custom AWGE look—self-designed—was not a suit in the traditional sense, but a double-breasted parka in technical wool, tailored to recall the puffy Marmot jackets of his youth. The velcro closures and utilitarian snaps clashed delightfully with the formal cadence of the evening, a remix of sport and ceremony. “Tailored for You” was the dress code, and Rocky’s answer was thrillingly autobiographical. Harlem was on his sleeves and in the seams.

Pharrell Williams in Louis Vuitton

Pharrell, ever a whisperer between the worlds of street and high luxury, appeared in pinstriped Louis Vuitton—an ensemble threaded with pearls that shimmered like punctuation marks on a love letter to lineage. There was restraint in the silhouette, but the details spoke volumes.

Shah Rukh Khan in Sabyasachi

If the American stars gave us invention, the global icons gave us gravitas. Shah, long referred to as the King of Bollywood, made his Met Gala debut in a black Sabyasachi ensemble adorned with cascading gold chains and a pendant bearing the letter ‘K’. The effect was regal, nearly mythic.

Lewis Hamilton in Wales Bonner

Lewis, the F1 champion turned fashion polymath, wore a Wales Bonner tuxedo with a matching beret tilted just so—styled with gold accessories that hinted at both ancestry and futurism. The brooch on his lapel sparkled like an heirloom passed down through generations, its symbolism both intimate and political.

Henry Golding in Ozwald Boateng

In a gold suit by Ozwald Boateng, Malaysian-British actor Henry offered another splendor—less about statement and more about silhouette.

Colman Domingo in Valentino

Then there was Colman—majestic in a Valentino cape the color of royal decree. The garment flowed behind him like a tide of intent, the silver chest plate evoking both armor and adoration. Beneath it: a black-and-white tweed blazer that grounded the fantasy in rigorous craftsmanship. Colman’s presence was Shakespearean—a character of stature and sadness, triumph and tradition.

Alton Mason in BOSS

Alton, ever the boundary-breaker, arrived like a time-traveling cavalier in BOSS: eye patch, rings, grills, hat. The future, he seemed to say, belongs to those who dare to dress for it now. His look was part sci-fi, part Josephine Baker, all elegance.

Patrick Schwarzenegger in Balmain

Even Patrick, son of Hollywood and politics, found his moment in a Balmain reinterpretation of the zoot suit—navy and yellow lines slicing through the air like jazz.

Bad Bunny in Prada

And Bad Bunny—forever in dialogue with both gender and genre—stepped forward in Prada, accessorized with gloves, a wide-brimmed hat, and a two-tone leather bag.

Together, these gentlemen—artists, athletes, and dreamers—did more than wear clothes. They embodied them. They reframed tailoring not as restriction but as release. Their garments were declarations: of roots and aspiration, of memory and motion.

If fashion is a language, then this year’s Met Gala was fluency made flesh. And for once, the men spoke first.