With this year's Met Gala theme being inspired by the Met Museum's exhibit "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style," celebrities showed up in designs by LaQuan Smith, Sergio Hudson, and more. The chosen theme dissected the legacy behind Black Dandyism. Check out the best looks from fashion's biggest night.
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00:00You said they didn't f**k up when they made the Met Gala black. I heard that. What you mean by that?
00:05You know what I meant by that.
00:10Hey, Essies. It's Nandi, the vice president of content for Essence Magazine, and I am here at the 2025 Met Gala.
00:18This year's theme is tailoring black style, an ode to the dandies in our life, and I am so excited to see everybody's looks tonight. Come on with me.
00:26What does black dandiesn't mean to you?
00:27Baby, we started from somewhere. We took it and made it our own. We trailblazers, we trendsetters, and that's what this is about tonight.
00:35Dandies, to me, it's the details. It's the minor. It's the intentions, the big ones and the small ones, because we're worth that. Black people are worth that.
00:41How does it feel to have the spotlight on us tonight?
00:43It is really about us and what we've contributed to. You know the culture, as we always do, no matter how often we are not shown or advocated for, we do it ourselves, and we do it the best.
00:54Man, black people have always been the creators of cool creativity. We start everything, we're first. We set the tone.
00:59Black people have always been the leaders and the cultural identity of America, period.
01:05We always have fun, and I think as African Americans, we bring so much joy to our style and our fashion. That's just kind of baked into who we are.
01:14Can you explain how black women are the creators of cool and creativity?
01:18I mean, I think you said it. Black women are the creators of cool and creativity.
01:22Historically, traditionally, black women have so much influence in black dandy, and honestly, style and fashion all together.
01:30We have the sauce, we have the riz, we have the vibe. It can't be bottled, it can't be replicated.
01:34We're blending masculine and feminine. We're blurring the lines of what's acceptable and what's not acceptable, and we're giving character tonight.
01:42And I feel like that's one of the things that our people are very good at, is serving a look and making a moment out of minimal.
01:48Get rid of the respectability politics. Whether I'm in a fully clothed suit or a birthday suit, it's all me.
01:55Growing up in the South and in church, how does just tonight's theme feel for you?
01:59It feels rewarding. I'm trying not to be emotional, because we don't get these opportunities often, but to be here, to feel free, to feel open, to be ourselves, and to be celebrated is a reward that feels incomparable.
02:17How important is black creativity to you?
02:19It is the future, it has been the past, and it's the fervor.