Fashion’s favorite party returned on Monday to celebrate an exhibition dedicated to Black men’s style.
Each year, the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Gala encourages guests to embrace the outer limits of their fashion sensibilities while also supporting the museum’s latest exhibit. On Monday, the event honored the Met Costume Institute’s upcoming show, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” which opens Saturday and runs through Oct. 26. The exhibition was inspired by Barnard college professor Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book, “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.” Monday night’s dress code was “Tailored for You.”
Celebrities of every gender leaned into the moment, experimenting with sharply tailored menswear-inspired looks accessorized with capes and canes (some of which were umbrellas due to the rain). There was no shortage of jewels, both sewn onto clothes and worn as embellishments, and many attendees also topped their looks off with custom hats.
It's certainly the right year for glamorous menswear. Bold looks started showing up at awards shows, when lapel brooches and colorful suits began taking center stage. That trend has now blossomed into an extravagant dandy moment.
Here are the evening’s top takeaways.
Well suited
Suits were, unsurprisingly, the night’s most popular style, although guests played with silhouette and color.
Wide legs were especially popular. Actor and gala co-chair Colman Domingo wore a blue Valentino cape — a nod to the late fashion journalist André Leon Talley — over a black-and-white checkered Valentino look. Designer Willy Chavarria stood out in a long lavender-jacketed suit from his own label. Actor Tracee Ellis Ross interpreted the style with a pink Marc Jacobs suit featuring expansive pants and an equally large bow-backed cummerbund.
Met Gala first-timer Lauryn Hill made a surprise appearance in a wide-legged yellow suit with a long train, custom designed by Jude Dontoh and accessorized with a blue Hermès Kelly bag.
Flared leg suits were also a big trend for the evening. Musician, gala co-chair and Louis Vuitton menswear designer Pharrell Williams wore subtly flared black pants with a cropped white pearl- jacket by event sponsor Louis Vuitton. Musician Future had an even more dramatic flare in his plaid suit, also by Louis Vuitton.
Floor-length skirt suits designed by Thom Browne were worn by both costume designer Paul Tazewell and actor Walton Goggins. Musician Janelle Monáe wore an exaggerated Thom Browne skirted look created in collaboration with Tazewell.
Slimmer cuts also made an appearance. Bad Bunny wore a straight-leg brown Prada suit with bejeweled gloves, while playwright Jeremy O. Harris wore a skinny-leg suit with tails by Balmain.
White out
While black tie is a gala staple, all-white looks made an especially dramatic appearance.
Formula 1 racer and gala co-chair Lewis Hamilton wore a monochrome cream Grace Wales Bonner suit with a matching beret, while musician Doechii wore a white Louis Vuitton logo-covered shorts suit with tails.
Actor Zendaya channeled 1970s icon Bianca Jagger in a flared white custom 3-piece Louis Vuitton and wide brimmed hat, while athlete Breanna Stewart also embodied Jagger’s style in a white Sergio Hudson suit and coat. Musician Madonna wore a white satin tuxedo with tails by Tom Ford.
Musician Megan Thee Stallion added some sparkle by topping her silver Michale Kors gown with a white floor-sweeping fur coat, and model Alex Consani glittered in a white cutout gown covered in more than 30,000 Swarovski crystals and designed by Swarovski and stylist Carlos Nazario, with input from Consani herself.
Lined up
If suits were the outfit of the night, then pinstripes were the pattern.
The lined look was seen on musicians Swizz Beatz and Alicia Keyes, who wore coordinating red and navy suit looks from Moncler x EE72 by Edward Enninful. Actor Patrick Schwarzenegger, also sported stripes with a wide-legged, belted Balmain jumpsuit over a yellow shirt. Actor Jeremy Allen White wore a subdued three-piece black pinstripe Louis Vuitton suit.
Some attendees were bolder, including musician Pusha T, who wore a double-breasted burgundy Louis Vuitton pinstripe suit dusted with sparkles, and actor Henry Golding, who wore a golden mustard suit by Ozwald Boateng. Musician Leon Bridges wore a navy and red wide pinstripe suit with wide flared lags by Nicholas Daley.
Actor Tramell Tillman paired his dramatic black Thom Browne pinstriped pants with an even more dramatic velvet suit jacket with tails. Actor Quinta Bronson wore a white pinstriped dress and matching jacket by Sergio Hudson, and musician Rihanna blended multiple pinstripes in a corseted Marc Jacobs maternity look with a cropped tuxedo jacket.
Highs and lows
Playing with proportion brought a fresh perspective to the night, as celebrities paired pants with overskirts, minidresses with trains and suits with capes.
Actor Aimee Lou Wood wore a short tuxedo suit with an attached floor-length side sash by Ahluwalia, while athlete and event co-host Simone Biles wore a blue mini skirt with a maxi train by Harbison Studio. Actor Myha’la wore a Luar minidress with an extra-high collar, and paired it with thigh-high Timberland boots.
Actor Sarah Snook wore a custom satin pantsuit and jacket and train by AnOnlyChild, while Lupita Nyong’o wore a pale blue Chanel pantsuit with a matching hat and a long, sheer cape. Athlete Colin Kaepernick wore a knee-length cape with his dark red Moncler x EE72 by Edward Enninful pantsuit, and the cape on actor Regé-Jean Page’s bright red Brioni suit trailed along the floor.
Athlete Venus Williams wore a custom deep green Lacoste ensemble, including a high-low pleated tennis skirt, polo shirt and floor-length coat, and actor Jodie Turner-Smith paired her slim Burberry pantsuit with a matching full-circle coat and sky-high top hat.
Musician Jennie Kim from the band Blackpink wore a custom Chanel tailored jumpsuit featuring slim black pants and a gown-length overskirt.
More is more
It’s just not a Met gala if some guests don’t go way, way over the top.
One thing the event has become known for is the number of people who wear exceptionally long trains. The venue’s wide, high staircase is perfectly suited for showcasing expansive swaths of fabric.
Musicians who took advantage of that feature included Diana Ross, whose showstopping white custom outfit from Eleven Sixteen by Ugo Mozie included a cape embroidered with the names of all of her children and grandchildren. Shakira also made a dramatic entrance in a pink Prabal Gurung gown with an enormous train.
Athlete Serena Williams wore a light blue dress and a long duvet-style cape by Moncler x EE72 by Edward Enninful, and actor Demi Moore let the tail of her black-and-white striped Thom Browne dress, which was designed to resemble a tie, trail behind her as she climbed the stairs.
There was also trailing drama in gala co-host and actor Ayo Edebiri’s custom Maximilian Davis for Ferragamo outfit, which featured a white dress embellished with red glass beads and a black leather coat with floor-sweeping cuffs.
However, few people carried as much weight up the stairs musician André 3000, who wore a Burberry x Benji Bixby jumpsuit and strapped a piano to his back, perhaps to show that true fashion moments are not for the weak.
