Everything you need to know about the 2025 Met Gala theme
The Met Gala will return on the first Monday in May with the annual celebration of the Costume Institute's upcoming exhibition. For 2025, this theme is 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style'.
This will be the first time that the main exhibition will have a menswear focus (although the Costume Institute did put on 'Men In Skirts' in 2003), and it will see names including Pharrell Williams and Lewis Hamilton play host for the evening. According to a press release from the Costume Institute, the theme was inspired by Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.
Although the dressing theme will coincide with the theme of the exhibition, the specific dress code will not be announced until early 2025.
Below, we round up everything you need to know about the 2025 Met Gala. From the theme to the hosts, here are all the details from the biggest night in fashion.
What is the Met Gala?
The Met Gala, which is also known as the Costume Institute Benefit or the Met Ball, is a charity event held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City each spring – and always makes for one of the most exciting celebrity-fashion events of the year.
Often dubbed the 'Oscars of fashion', the event draws in the biggest A-list names, who dress according to a set theme, usually in bespoke creations from the world's most impactful fashion designers. In previous years, guests have dressed to the themes of 'punk', 'camp' and 'heavenly bodies', while there have also been events that have paid tribute to specific designers, including Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld and Rei Kawakubo.
The ball raises millions for the Costume Institute at the Met – which holds an annual accompanying exhibition – through the sale of tickets, which are bought by designers and brands. Tickets cost around $35,000 each, with tables ranging from $200,000 to $300,000.
What is the 2025 Met Gala theme?
This year's theme will explore "the indelible style of Black men in the context of dandyism, from the 18th century through present day," the Costume Institute explained, adding that it will examine the importance of clothing and style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora.
"I feel that the show itself marks a really important step in our commitment to diversifying our exhibitions and collections, as well as redressing some of the historical biases within our curatorial practice," Andrew Bolton, the Wendy Yu Curator in Charge of The Costume Institute, said. "It’s very much about making fashion at the Met more of a gateway to access and inclusivity."
Who will host the 2025 Met Gala?
Colman Domingo, Pharrell Williams, Lewis Hamilton and A$AP Rocky are set to co-host the event for the evening, as well as LeBron James, who will serve as an honorary co-chair.
What was last year's Met Gala theme?
The theme of the 2024 Met Gala exhibition was entitled 'Sleeping Beauty: Reawakening Fashion'. Guests meanwhile dressed to the theme of 'The Garden of Time', which was inspired by the J.G. Ballard short story of the same name.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition (which ran from 10 May to 2 September 2024) featured 250 historically significant pieces which are referred to as the 'sleeping beauties' – pieces far too fragile ever to be worn again. There were original designs from the likes of Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior, Yves Saint Laurent and Hubert de Givenchy.
"Fashion is one of the most emotional artistic forms because of its connection to the body," said Bolton. "It is imbued with memory and emotions, and we relate to it very much via our senses. One thing I hope this show will activate is that sensorial appreciation of fashion."
The connection to 'The Garden of Time' is that the story touches on a similar theme to the exhibition – the evolution of human history and the endless cycle of creation and destruction.
Given the obvious references to the natural world, we saw plenty of floral motifs in the red-carpet looks (Demi Moore, Amanda Seyfried, Ayo Edebiri), while many guests strayed towards the darker end of the spectrum (Zendaya, Lana del Rey, Cardi B), embracing the sense of transience made evident in the theme (read more about that here).
Other clever interpretations nodding to the theme of time included Tyla's hourglass-themed sand dress and Mindy Kaling's 'Melting Flower of Time' gown by the Indian couturier Gaurav Gupta. The likes of Nicole Kidman, Kendall Jenner and Iris Law looked to the archives and stepped out in vintage or vintage-inspired fashion, while there were fairytale takes on the 'Sleeping Beauty' theme from Phoebe Dynevor, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Elle Fanning.
The year previously, the exhibition theme was 'Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty' and was a celebration of the prolific designer who passed away in 2019, aged 85. He was one of the most celebrated fashion designers of all time and has headed up some of the biggest fashion houses in the world, including Fendi, Chanel and his own namesake label, all three of which he acted as creative director for until his death.
The exhibition paid tribute to his genius, while the accompanying gala saw hundreds of his close friends and collaborators – from Nicole Kidman to Naomi Campbell and Gisele Bundchen – on the red carpet, inspired by some of his most iconic designs, celebrating his life's work through what they chose to wear on the night.
Others chose to work with the fashion houses that Lagerfeld was so closely associated with; Margot Robbie were custom Chanel, Allison Williams wore a dress by Patou, Kate Moss wore Fendi, and Cara Delevingne wore a design by Karl Lagerfeld Couture.
Catch up on all the red-carpet looks from the 2024 Met Gala here, plus see our edit of the 10 best dressed from the night here.
You Might Also Like
