What Do the 2025 Met Gala Theme and Dress Code Really Mean?

The countdown to the Met

Though it may seem far away, the 2025 Met Gala will be here before you know it. Back in October, the co-chairs for the year were introduced: Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams, and, of course, Anna Wintour. The theme? Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. The dress code? Tailored for You.

You might be wondering: What does that even mean?

In some ways, the theme is easy to understand—clothing as identity, personal style as a form of resistance, tailoring as something both intimate and inherently public.

The Met’s accompanying exhibition takes inspiration from Monica L. Miller’s Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, a book that traces the history of the Black dandy from Enlightenment-era Europe to contemporary metropolises like London, New York, and Paris.

The Black dandy as rebellion

The Black dandy is, in many ways, an act of rebellion.

In a world where Black identity has historically been constrained by stereotype and expectation, the dandy takes those very expectations—of class, of masculinity, of respectability—and refashions them into something beautiful, something subversive. High-style menswear, vibrant textiles, an audacious use of color and fit—fashion not just as self-expression, but as reclamation.

This is the heartbeat of the 2025 Met Gala. But then, of course, there is the question of what this actually looks like on the first Monday in May.

The dress code, Tailored for You, offers guidance but also freedom. Unlike past years, where themes have often invited literal interpretations (Heavenly Bodies summoned robes and halos, Camp demanded excess and irony), this one turns the attention inward.

Tailoring is, after all, a deeply personal thing—measurements taken close to the skin, fabrics chosen with care. It is both art and armor.

What to expect

So what will we see? Likely, a night of exquisite suiting—sharp lapels, intricate embroidery, cuts that hug and frame the body with precision. Accessories will be key: pocket squares and brooches, silk cravats and pearl-studded cuffs.

Perhaps some will lean into historical references, evoking 18th-century dandies in velvet frock coats, while others will take a futuristic approach, tailoring reimagined in unexpected materials. The beauty of it is that there is no single answer.

What makes something tailored for you? That’s the question. The Met Gala is merely offering a stage for the answer.

Photos courtesy Russell Frederick, The Met, and Vintage Memories