Arriving after awards season and fashion month, the Met Gala can feel like a family affair. It brings our red carpet and fashion front row favourites across music, fashion, film and, in 2025, social media, together with a single incentive: nail the theme and deliver a look that toes the line been outlandish and chic.
So, while it’s still months away, the 2025 Met Gala is a key event in our calendar, and last year, we started looking forward to the next one as soon as the Met Carpet as soon as we’ve wrapped our best dressed lists.
Now, along with the theme and co-chairs announced last year, we have details of the dress code (which differs from the theme, more on that later) for the Met Gala 2025. We’re unpacking it below.
What Is The Met Gala 2025 Dress Code?
The Met Gala theme doesn’t always offer a clear indication of what we’ll see on the night. That’s because the theme is drawn from the Costume Institute’s exhibition, and it’s often deliberately broad. To help guests land the sartorial brief, organisers usually release a “dress code” closer to the event — and it’s often a better clue as to how the “Met” carpet will actually shape up. Last year’s dress code, The Garden of Time, referenced J.G. Ballard’s short story of the same name and gave attendees more specific inspiration. Stars like Zendaya, Tyla and Lana Del Rey interpreted it with gowns adorned in flowers, tree branches, and ephemeral elements like sand. The 2025 Met Gala dress code was only announced in February this year and is “Tailored for you.” This gives a pretty strong indicator that Wintour and co are hopping for guests interpretations of fine tailoring.
What Is The Met Gala Theme For The Year?
The theme for the 2025 Met Gala is “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” It ties into the Costume Institute’s Spring exhibition of the same name and will spotlight the tradition and evolution of Black dandyism.
Curator Andrew Bolton took inspiration from Professor Monica Miller’s ground-breaking book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. Miller — who will guest-curate the exhibition — is Professor and Chair of Africana Studies at Barnard College, Columbia University. Her work traces the cultural history of the Black dandy, exploring how identity, politics and fashion intertwine across eras, from eighteenth-century figures like Julius Soubise, a freed slave who made his mark on London high society, to contemporary icons like Sean Combs and André 3000. According to Vogue, the exhibition will explore “the importance of clothing and style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora.”
In a refreshing twist, Superfine will also be the Costume Institute’s first exhibition since 2003 to focus exclusively on menswear.
What Is The Difference Between The Met Gala Theme and Met Gala Dress Code?
The difference between the Met Gala theme and the Met Gala Dress Code has caused confusion for fashion bystanders and attendees over the years. The easiest way to think of it is the theme of the event’s overarching story. It aligns with the exhibition the Costume Institute, for which the event is a fundraiser, is holding that year. Last year, for example, the theme was Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” which, according to head Costume Institute curator Andrew Bolton, was about exploring “nature as a metaphor for fashion and for its fragility and its ephemerality.”
The exhibition featured 220 garments spanning four centuries, all visually connected through themes of nature, including an Alexander McQueen gown made from razor clamshells, a Loewe grass coat and a terrarium dress by Undercover, also worn by model Amelia Gray on the Met red carpet.
The dress code is a way for event organisers and Anna Wintour, who hosts the event, to provide guests with gentle guidance in interpreting the theme, which is often abstract. It gives those anticipating the event a clue as to what Met Gala guests will wear.
Last year, the event received criticism when the dress code “In The Garden Of Time” was deemed too abstract. This year, organisers haven’t taken that risk. The theme is Tailoring Black Style, and the dress code is Tailored For You. We’re about to see some suits.
When Is The 2025 Met Gala?
Next year’s Met Gala will occur on May 5, 2025, at the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Related Posts:
- Where To Watch The 2025 Met Gala From Australia
- All The Best Hair, Makeup and Manicure Moments From The 2025 Met Gala
- All The Best Looks From The Met Gala, So Far
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