This year’s MET Gala arrived with silk-gloved hands and embellished lapels, honoring the theme, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style. It was a night not about opulence for opulence’s sake, but the nuance and intention behind the aesthetic that spotlighted Black elegance, resistance, and reinvention through centuries of dress. Centuries of pride coursed through silhouettes tailored with purpose and precision.
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Janelle Monáe
Theatrical and sharp, her custom Thom Browne look—done in collaboration with Hamilton costume designer Paul Tazewell—played in pinstripes and perspective.
Zoe Saldaña
A full Thom Browne look built on structure: sequined collars, fastened white buttons, and ribbed fabrics taken to floor-skimming formality.
Coco Jones
In Manish Malhotra’s ivory tailoring, floral embroidery met power dressing—regal, rendered in thread.
Tessa Thompson
A Prabal Gurung blazer dress flared with tulle and buttoned like a daydream. The drama came not in volume, but in how it was styled—sharp tie, white shirt, punk poise.
Imaan Hammam
All white, all power in Magda Butrym. She sharpened her sleek suit with a black buttoned-up shirt, checkered tie, and feathery crown.
Rihanna
A third child on the way, and still the moment. In Marc Jacobs, she redefined maternity fashion with a barathea wool jacket, pinstriped bustle, and an off-kilter top hat.
Tracee Ellis Ross
Playful proportions and confident color blocking—bordeaux and bubblegum, tailoring and drama, all Marc Jacobs.
Jodie Turner-Smith
Victorious in Burberry. In embossed leather and a cinched waist coat with bustle through a Victorian aesthetic, her equestrian energy galloped toward elegance with historical subtext.
Ugbab Abdi
Prabal Gurung’s expert layering of texture and pattern—paisley, pinstripes, silver brooch—felt as much archive as avant-garde.
Zendaya
A custom Louis Vuitton zoot suit in bridal white. The collar, the brooch, the wide-brimmed hat—it all whispered ‘I do’ to tailoring.
Photos: Courtesy of LOUIS VUITTON; FILM UPDATES, MEDIA FOR UPDATES, and THE MET GALA (via X); WHAT THE FROCK (via Reddit)
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