LEMON DROP | 2025 MET GALA: What Is Black Dandyism?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello, Lemon Nation. Welcome to another edition of the Don Lemon Show. Unfortunately, Don is still dealing with a family matter. He'll be back soon, but we had to provide you with some content, and we really wanted to talk about the Met Gala. So joining me today is Sam Barry, the editor-in-chief of Glamour Magazine. Sam, thank you so much for joining us.
Of course. Happy first Tuesday in May, which is what we celebrate first Monday in May a lot for the Met, but yeah, first Tuesday in May.
So let's take a step back because some in Don's audience are not going to be super familiar with the Met Gala. What is the Met Gala? How did it start? Just, yeah, rant at me.
I mean, at its core, it's a gala, it's a charity night, right? And the whole concept of the Met Gala is to raise money for the Met, in particular around the Costume Institute, right? And so it has always been, for many a decade, a night of fashion, but really philanthropy, right? The whole concept is it's this one night in May, the first Monday of May, with few exceptions over COVID when it got changed around. But, and it is to bring together people to not only celebrate fashion, but to raise money for the Met. And, you know, what I think you've seen in particular in recent years, when it wasn't just people that were in New York that could see what was happening on the steps of the Met, that it had become this big broadcast moment, this big live stream moment.
It has become a... a bigger night in fashion for everybody. People are waiting to see what people are wearing. Have they gone along with the theme? For some reason, the last couple of Mets, we've had very rainy Mondays in New York City. So there's been a lot of that. But yeah, it's become, I think we did a piece on Glamour recently where we looked back at some of the early 2000s Met. And it looks like maybe a more simple time, right? There was a lot of slip dresses and maybe that was the fashion trend. And theme as well. But there is definitely an extravagance that comes along with going to a Met Gala recently that I know our audience love. And they stop and they watch. And we had the ultimate goal of it is to raise money for the Met.
Yeah, I'd say I'm not a fashionista per se, but it cuts through for me. It's so odd because in this era of echo chambers and media splintering, Monoculture has sort of disappeared. It's been destroyed. But the Met cuts through. I don't know if it's the camp of it all. I don't know if it's all the celebrities that go. But every single year, it dominates my social media feeds relentlessly. Let's talk about this year's theme, black dandyism. That sounds fascinating to me.
What is the Met Gala and why does it dominate culture every May?
Can you talk to me about black dandyism?
Yeah, it's amazing. I really loved the theme this year. It actually stems from a 2009 book that was written by Monica Miller and it was Slaves to Fashion, Black Dandyism and the Styling of the Black Diaspora. And an identity. And that was Andrew Bolton, who's the main curator at the Costume Institute, read that book after a very famous black dandy editor at Vogue, Andre, died and was like, this is the basis for what could be potentially a spectacular film. um exhibition and so he reached out to the author of the book and she came on as a co-curator which they haven't really done a lot at the med so andrew and monica who wrote this book on black dandyism um were the people that curated this exhibition and really what it is is it's it is this it's it's
at its core brilliant black men's styling um and you can see it and you can chart it back to the 1800s but I think in particular modern era it's like the Harlem Renaissance was where you saw a lot of like black dandies um and that was you know I think there's a little bit of um you know, real pride in having an outfit that feels maybe over the top or is very put together, has a lot of color, has a lot of style. And I think you see these great, amazing figures of black dandyism and black style in the exhibition. For example, one of my favorite things I went to see the preview yesterday morning was they have the frilly white shirt from Prince.
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Chapters
4 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:13–3:01
2
What is the Met Gala and why does it dominate culture every May?
3:01–15:29
3
What is 'Black Dandyism' and how did it become this year's Met Gala theme?
15:29–18:30
4
How does the Met exhibition trace the history of Black men's style?
18:30–24:31
Speakers
3 identifiedMore from The Don Lemon Show
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