It's the first Monday in May. AKA it's time for the annual Met Gala. Or as some call it, "fashion's biggest night." Celebrities will walk the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art hoping their looks live up to the annual theme of the gala. This year's theme is a special one. It's called "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style," and it's the very first Black fashion tradition to be selected for the theme of the Costume Institute's fundraiser. Brittany and her guests, culture writer Shelton Boyd-Griffith and editor-in-chief of Black Fashion Fair Antoine Gregory, discuss how celebrities can be sure to be on theme and how the theme is rooted in the very first fashion statements made by enslaved people.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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Hello, hello. I'm Brittany Luce, and you're listening to It's Been a Minute from NPR, a show about what's going on in culture and why it doesn't happen by accident. Do y'all have your scorecards ready? Do you have your live stream links ready to go? Are you ready to judge the rich and famous?
Because tonight, we all get to be fashion critics as celebrities and designers show out at the 2025 Met Gala. And this year, I'm here to give you a guidebook for how to judge the best and worst looks of the night. So every year, the Met Gala has a theme. And every year, some people get it and some people just don't. This year's theme is a special one and a bit complicated.
It's called Superfine, tailoring black style, and it's a celebration of the black dandy. You might already know what a black dandy is, but if you don't, here's a picture.
It's rooted in, like, traditional sartorial, like, suiting. But then it's also juxtaposed with, like, someone who's more, like, peacocky and, like, more exuberant. It is, like, a Billy Porter, which is rooted in, like, this queerness. But then also, like, it is Dapper Dan and it is, like, A$AP Rocky. And early Danelle Monáe.
Oh, absolutely.
Yes.
With the tuxedos and the updo and recalling James Brown.
Yes.
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