Janelle Monáe gets ready for the 2025 Met Gala. Go behind the scenes of Janelle's entire process as she gets her hair done by Nikki Nelms and makeup by Keita Moore. Get the intricate details behind their "time-traveling dandy" look, including spinning clock nails and a tailored Thom Browne suit.
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00:00Hello, what's up Allure, it's Janelle Monae and I am getting ready for Met Gala 2025.
00:24This particular Met Gala is giving me the same excitement that I have
00:29about Halloween, like I am ready to transform. I think this is my 11th Met Gala. I'm super
00:36honored to always be invited and with this particular theme, black dandyism, super fine,
00:43tailoring, I want to stay in constant gratitude of those who have come before me. So I'm holding
00:49space to honor all of that visually and that's all I'll say.
01:00Okay, so when I first heard the theme, they sent me the article, they were like,
01:04this is so you, this is so you and I was getting text messages and then I was trending
01:08and that was just how I dressed, you know, that's what I wore on stage. You know, I've been doing my
01:13best through fashion to honor my working class parents who were servers of the community from
01:18doing janitorial work to being trash men. My grandmother cooked for our community and so
01:23I grew up watching them put on their uniforms and make our communities better and so my dandyism is
01:30through the lens of the working class and honoring my family. I'm showing up as my time traveling self
01:37where I'm going to really honor, you know, the past, present, and future through style.
01:41It was a collaboration. We're always on the phone just rambling, chatting, going in and out of looks
01:49for the future. I saw the piping on the suit and it just reminded me of the lines and the hair and it's
01:55so now it flows and then she brought up the point of like we all did this. I remember being a little,
02:03little, little kid and my auntie braiding my hair and then my mom sharing with me that she used to get
02:08her hair cornrowed and then my grandmother got her hair cornrowed and then my great-grandmother
02:13like it's such a timeless hairstyle. It can be a protective hairstyle but it also shows up on the red
02:20carpet. And it's chic and it's fashion not because it was told to be chic in fashion but it's because
02:26we did it. I feel like I'm taking a piece of my family with me when I think about my hair.
02:33Nikki and I were on the phone just casually talking and once she saw the look
02:38she was like oh this would be so cool if within the cornrows we had some stitching to continue
02:45the stitching on the outside of the jacket and the suit and the skirt. And I was like done and done.
02:57My name is Keith Moore. I am Janelle Monáe's makeup artist for this year's Met Gala. We're going for something that is effortless.
03:06Janelle Monáe eternal glam something that lasts forever. Based on this theme this year it's about dandyism.
03:13You know when you think of dandy you think Janelle Monáe. Well my initial thought was to play up on her eyes.
03:20Something of a timeless glam when you think of like an Eartha Kitt or like a Dorothy Dandridge you know that
03:26type of moment that we're going to be having on this carpet this year. If you look back in time those looks are
03:32still being amplified in beauty and that's what we want to do something that's going to last forever.
03:38Janelle has amazing skin this year we wanted to go for sort of like an inner glow like she's radiant
03:45and beaming from the inside out. I gotta give it up for Angie since we're the time traveling dandy today
03:52get into that clock. Yeah we built it around the look like once she saw what Paul and Tom and I came up
03:59with for the look she was like bam she worked so hard on these she was up all night. We have buttons
04:07we have more buttons love and we have another spinning clock and we have more buttons so buttons spinning
04:20clocks black and white red. To me a dandy represents a lifestyle and a dedication to fashion on the flip
04:30side of that this is her for real like on an off day that nobody's she's still getting dressed she's still
04:36suiting up even when I'm like girl just don't want some sweats we just run to the store she's like
04:41one moment please you know not that voice not I talk like that putting your tie on and I'm like
04:48I like that that's who she is and that is what dandyism is to me. Growing up seeing Janelle Monáe was
04:55something that was out of the ordinary it was a style that was her own and um you know it was a time
05:03where women weren't wearing suits you know and she stood on that for years and made people pay
05:10attention to it and you know that you have to be an incredible person that you know is defined by
05:18you know the whole dandy style to keep that type of energy flowing and going and this year is definitely
05:24her met ball hello
05:31ooh the time traveling dandy has arrived
05:42hello Met Gala 2025 with my date we have made it
05:47so I love you thank you so much for helping design
05:55this look being the dandy that you are you look dapper amazing having this moment between Paul
06:02Tom Brown thank you so much and myself the kid in me is so thankful and excited um to be with the best
06:12dandies this is just a huge privilege for me to have a part in dressing the amazing american dandy
06:19my clock is rewinding but I am definitely ready to time travel yes we are it takes a lot to build
06:25something to tailor something to stitch something together I mean you see the stitching alongside here
06:32and then even the stitching in my hair like all of it when I'm walking around I'm carrying so much with
06:39me and I'm carrying so many people whose shoulders I stand on hopefully more people will get re-educated
06:45about us our people where we come from where we're going and tonight's just going to be so incredible
06:51let's do it let's do it see you bye bye see you
07:21you