Unknown (American). [Studio Portrait], 1940-50s. Gelatin silver print. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Twentieth-Century Photography Fund, 2015 (2015.330). Photo Credit: Vogue

For many years, contemporary Black dandyism — a style of dress that combines European menswear with African aesthetics — has been seen on the iconic red carpet at the Met Gala. 

Take Billy Porter’s “Sun God” ensemble, which he wore during the 2019 Met Gala — themed “The Blonds for the ‘Camp’” — and A$AP Rocky’s iconic patchworked memory quilt from designer ERL — a luxury unisex fashion brand designed by Eli Russell Linnetz — at 2021’s Met Gala — themed “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” 

Left: Billy Porter's "Sun God" ensemble from the 2019 Met Gala. Photo Credit: Getty Images. Right: A$AP Rocky attending the 2021 Met Gala. Photo Credit: Getty Images

According to a Wednesday article from Vogue, The Costume Institute officially announced the theme of this year’s Spring 2025 Metropolitan Museum of Art Exhibition and Met Gala theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” The exhibition, according to the article, will “take the Black dandy as its subject, examining the importance of clothing and style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora.” 

According to the article, the exhibition will be arranged by 12 characteristics of Black dandyism, a principle decided upon by Zora Neale Hurston in her 1934 essay, “The Characteristics of Negro Expression.” 

Each of the sections, according to the article, will detail the evolution of the Black dandy style not just through the garments and accessories, but also through drawings, paintings, photographs and film excerpts.

According to the article, this exhibition is the first from the Costume Institute since 2003’s “Men in Skirts” to focus exclusively on menswear. 

Left: “Maya Angelou Passport” ensemble, Foday Dumbuya (Sierra Leonean) for Labrum London (British, founded 2014), fall/winter 2023; Courtesy Labrum London. Photo Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Right: Livery, American, Courtesy Maryland Center for History and Culture, gift of Miss Constance Petre, 1946.3.3a-c. Photo Credit: The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The exhibition, according to the article, takes inspiration from Monica Miller’s — Professor and chair of Africana Studies at Columbia University’s Barnard College — 2009 book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity,” in which Miller “establishes Black dandyism as both an aesthetic and political construct.”

According to the article, the Costume Institute realized the neglect African American populations were seeing from American fashion narratives of the past. According to the article, since the Black Lives Matter movement of 2020, The Costume Institute has acquired roughly 150 pieces by BIPOC designers, some of which are set to be featured in “Superfine” this spring.