The blue carpet was ablaze with Black style as the Met Gala worked to shrug off a complicated racial history with a tailor-made theme.
Aimed in part at honoring the late fashion journalist André Leon Talley and the rich tradition of Black dandyism, the theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” offered designers and celebrity attendees the chance to pay tribute to the polished silhouettes, tailored suits and structured styles that define the figure.
Co-chaired by racing legend Lewis Hamilton, rapper A$AP Rocky, film star Colman Domingo and music producer Pharrell Williams, the class of hosts reflected modern Black sartorial genius and the culmination of centuries of style.
Lewis Hamilton in all-white everything
Fresh off the Grand Prix in Miami, Hamilton sported a head-to-toe white look on the Met Gala’s famed steps.
Crisp and spotless the look, designed by Wales Bonner, was also a tribute to jazz great Cab Calloway and the style born of the Harlem Renaissance.
In an elegant ivory suit, layered over a bright white shirt and bow-tie, Hamilton brought dandyism to life, pairing the light cloth with a beret and several brooches, which he said in an interview with Vogue were a tribute to “the power of adornment” in African culture.
A$AP Rocky
Rocky, long thought of as a free thinker in the fashion world, took the “tailored” theme to new heights by wearing his own design to the Gala.
Wearing a custom design from his own agency, AWGE, Rocky gave outerwear a high-fashion makeover, transforming the classic New York puffer jacket into a slim-fitting suit coat atop a vest and tie. He later told Vogue it was a tribute to his native Harlem, where teens often sported Marmot coats.
Colman Domingo
Domingo put on a sartorial spectacle with a two-part look exuding the fashion whimsy that has made him a red-carpet darling − and, in the eyes of some, the quintessential modern-day dandy.
The Oscar-nominated actor wore an opulent royal blue gown on the red carpet that boasted an enlarged, sparkly collar. He then followed up the look with a more understated — but equally fabulous — ensemble featuring a pearl-embroidered blazer, polka-dotted handkerchief tie and floral brooch.
Earlier in the day, during a media preview for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute spring exhibit “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, Domingo remembered three men who shaped his sense of fashion: his brother, stepfather and biological father.
Perhaps the flashiest of the three was his father, also named Colman, whose wardrobe ranged from “white, very tight, Italian flared trousers” to “preacher robes that showed another part of him where he was representing the Lord.”
Pharrell Wiliams
Williams, a mastermind behind many major hits in the music industry, has turned his eye to fashion in recent years, taking on the mantle of creative director for menswear at Louis Vuitton.
Williams also designed his own look, in coordination with the team at Louis Vuitton, walking the carpet in a pearl-encrusted blazer that Vogue reports took 980 hours to make.
Pairing the blazer with flared slacks, blacked out shades and a classic dress shirt, Williams’ look was at once singular and classic.
Contributing: Taijuan Moorman, Edward Segarra
