2025 Met Gala Review
PLUS a Famous and Beloved sale...
One of the first real, regular posts on this blog was a review of last year’s Met Gala, which feels both like it was yesterday and one million years ago. I have since amassed many subscribers and made many friends on Substack, in just one year surpassing every growth milestone I had set for myself without ever really promoting my newsletter on any other website. To say thank you to early and new readers alike, I’m offering 30% off annual subscriptions through the month of May.
THANK YOU FOR READING AND SHARING MY FAMOUS & BELOVED NEWSLETTER….
-Clare
Some Met Gala themes are flat out dumb, fewer are fine, and most are just annoying. This year’s, promoting the exhibit Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, somehow spans all three of these categories. I haven’t seen the exhibit, but would like to; historicizing black menswear as mimetically aristocratic is very interesting to me, and I bet the clothes are awesome. It’s based, however, on a dissertation-turned-book whose scope and topic is inescapably “from somebody’s dissertation,” i.e. an academic’s personal interest or very first discovery reverse engineered into intellectual rigor. That’s no slight at the book itself, which (from what I’ve read of it) I like. It centers some otherwise archivally erased figures and colonially deadened aesthetics through fleshed out narrativization and Du Bois citations. Great! Her research objects are incredibly creative, and for as much performance theory as I’ve read (like this) I’m surprised I have never encountered these ideas before—fashion and Black pop culture both desperately need to be baked into every other part of cultural studies. My slight is merely at the idea of culturally extrapolating academic books of that structure to serve as something like a Met theme. An exhibition: maybe. A party theme? You’re asking for every dumb famous person of all races and aesthetic interests to show up in the exact same pinstripe suit, which is exactly what you got. It’s just like, I’m happy we got some citations we wouldn’t have otherwise, but it was mostly the same citation done as a Halloween costume over and over and over.
This is also a bit of an elementary reading, but the thesis of the exhibition, per the Met’s website, is: “In the 18th-century Atlantic world, a new culture of consumption, fueled by the slave trade, colonialism, and imperialism, enabled access to clothing and goods that indicated wealth, distinction, and taste. Black dandyism sprung from the intersection of African and European style traditions.” When you filter this intellectual project through the Met—an earnest celebration of consumption, clothing, and goods that indicate wealth, distinction, and taste—the performative elements that formed Black dandyism and make it historically resistive are deadened a bit, no? That’s fine: if you expect or want anything else from “the Met Gala,” something is wrong with your mind. But it was so obvious that no one there understood what they were doing. And then you have them saying stuff like, “this is the most important Met Gala there’s ever been” (Colman Domingo) and “this is where fashion meets intention” (Coco Jones), presumably because thinking politically about clothing or art is not something these people do often. That’s also fine, but I just think the theme is too explicitly anti-colonial and aesthetically evocative to be appropriate. Why did Stella McCartney dress Mary J. Blige?
My real takeaway from this year’s Met was that it was almost as boring as the Karl Lagerfeld one, and that’s saying something. What both themes have in common is that too many attendees and designers of all industries, creeds, and sensibilities just had no idea what to do. Yet there was also this weird vacancy on the carpet, with marquee looks coming from forthcoming F1 star Damson Idris ripping off a racing suit—just like the one he probably wears in the movie F1—and Jon Batiste playing a saxophone.
This event doesn’t work without evil freaks, of which there were far too few. Yet there were far too many sleep-aid looks, like JENNIE in Chanel and Monica Barbaro in Dior: huh??? On the carpet, Emma Chamberlain said the words “I’m wearing Courrèges and eBay” before the words “I think the looks are going to be so dynamic.” Watching this unfold was like watching a child’s mind slip through sleep and dreams, lost and confused. Don’t worry, though: Ego Nwodim talked at FKA twigs about twigs’ Matchaful matcha line for nearly a full minute while nervously laughing, and when FKA twigs barely responded Nwodim said, about the matcha, “it did what it needed to do.”
Like last year, I have split my evaluations of looks into four categories. Best and Worst are easy to understand. VIPs contain celebrities I feel too strongly about to properly evaluate, or looks that I love a lot for no good reason. ? contains looks that are too confusing for anyone to evaluate, or looks/appearances I want to address without actually talking about the clothes.1
?
Kamala Harris in Off-White
Lupita Nyong’o in Chanel
This is pretty unremarkable. I like the color and pants, but am very irritated by this wispy, billowy cape. Why can’t there just be a normal cape if the rest of the outfit is already so literal? The reason I’m acknowledging the look at all, though, is because of the “Glittery eyebrows,” which is something that is a lazy stand-in for being “weird” or “artsy” that I can’t stand on anyone. This was the first look of the night that made me wonder, “is every look just going to be a lazy suit with some standard ‘weird’ element?” (yes). I love her: where is the zazz?
Joey King in Miu Miu
This transcends being bad to being, like: we need to stop having this event, altogether. Who does Joey King know in this industry, and how do we remove them from the industry? The butterfly effect that led us from Ramona and Beezus to Joey King in a zoot suit.
Kerry Washington in SKIMKHAI
She got a new face! Outfit is fine.
Walton Goggins in Thom Browne
This is NOT a famous person. I enjoyed the twirls he did on the carpet, but his ensemble not so much. Here’s the thing about this guy: do you see Will Forte or Tim Robinson, two of the hottest guys I have ever seen, walking around doing photoshoots with the premise “I am hot?” No. They are hot by virtue of being the funniest guys who have ever lived. The second they start admitting they are hot, the whole thing is over. Take notes.
Megan Thee Stallion in Michael Kors
Wearing Michael Kors as Megan Thee Stallion is very funny to me—where’s Joe Burrow in Wales Bonner?! I like that she’s wearing a normal dress with a thematic coat, and on the carpet Kors said the reference was Earth Kitt—fabulous! If that’s the case, however, I do wish the hair were less VMAs and more period á la Gabrielle Union’s, but overall… fun.
Suki Waterhouse in Michael Kors
I don’t care when someone overdoses on GLP-1s, but it’s definitely something I notice!
Law Roach in Burberry
He told Ego Nwodim and Teyana Taylor, “I’m such an eBay shopper.”
Best
Audra McDonald in Harvison Studio
I like that this is a little boring but totally memorable. The references aren’t super clear but I don’t mind that for a dignified woman.
Zoe Saldaña in Thom Browne
I prefer when Thom Browne makes gender normative womenswear. This is a legitimately creative approach to the theme and to tailoring clothes to fit a body.
Gabrielle Union in Prada
The styling here is of an era not frequently represented, and I like the over-accessorization.
Mindy Kailing in Harbison Studio
I don’t know, either. This theme is limiting and this was creative and fit well.
Andrew Scott in Giuliva Heritage
I really don’t like this guy’s whole “schtick” when it comes to dressing, but he does get good garment-makers to make him good garments. Because he is known for wearing colorful suits elsewhere, I suppose it’s only appropriate to pay homage to their history here, and he’s done so without any ugly patterns or shiny fabrics. Hurray!
Ayo Edebiri in Ferragamo
I love almost everything Ferragamo is sending out these days, and it’s frustrating how great Edebri looks most of the time. The references here are pretty legible, but she still looks beautiful and in terms of construction the coat and beading are works of art.
Hunter Schaffer in Prada
Okie dokie!
Shaboozey in Robert Wun
Best of the night.
It’s not entirely clear to me what the historical scope of the Met exhibition is, but it seems kind of sprawling from the slave trade to contemporary. The biggest piece of that history that was entirely absent from the carpet was the figure of the Black cowboy, one of the most iconographic American examples of interpolating or falling in line with white power; they had their own workwear that, through historical alienation, itself became a performance of wealth. Cowboys were propagandized poor people, most of the time, who became instrumental in Indigenous genocide and served as a foundation for American aristocracy. They aggregated a lot of wealth that way, indirectly leading to contemporary “Western” aesthetics in the $80,000 pick-up trucks and designer cowboy boots we have today. Cowboys are America! Shaboozey is a Black country singer wearing a turquoise grill and a bolo jacket at the Met Gala about dandyism. Could you imagine anything cooler if you tried?
FKA twigs in Wales Bonner
This is easy but it makes a lot of sense.
Laura Harrier in Gap Studio by Zac Posen
Do NOT put de facto Zac Posen on best outfits list challenge: FAILED!
Madonna in Tom Ford
Seeing Madonna roll up with Ackermann looking both ridiculous and normal honestly made me want to cry tears of happiness. Finally some fucking gravitas and celebrity. I was hoping that Ackermann’s Tom Ford would have its non-Chalamet premiere on Austin Butler in Cannes, but this is fine!
Kim Kardashian in Chrome Hearts
This feels wrong, I know, but this is one of the best looks of the night. I want to get married in Chrome Hearts. I cannot stop staring at this.
Worst
Maya Hawke in Prada
Right—so, can anyone help with this?
Anne Hathaway in Carolina Herrera
Hasn’t she worn this before? And, talking to Ego and Teyana, Anne was really putting on a display of Millennial Excellence. My patience wears very thin. Take this face back to the face store!
Dua Lipa in Chanel
I really cannot believe my eyes. It’s one flop after another!
Miley Cyrus in Alaïa
She always thinks she’s doing something but is just wearing a skirt.
Cynthia Ervio in Givenchy
That smile you give when you get your Elphaba on at the Met!
Tracy Ellis Ross in Marc Jacobs
I can’t stand this new Marc stuff. Take your goofy ass back to Universal Orlando’s Seuss Landing!
Aimee Lou Wood & Patrick Schwarzenegger in Ahluwalia
They don’t deserve their own subheadings. I was watching the livestream with my brother, and he was like, “shouldn’t everyone be there? Where are the famous people?” And as I was like “no, this is usually a Bridgerton cast reunion,” in walked these clowns.
Shakira in Prabal Gurung
This is someone I never need to see again, generally, but looking like Katy Perry in 2016 doesn’t help.
Charli xcx in Ann Demeulemeester
Her look last year was the best of the night :(
VIPs
Tom Francis in Todd Snyder
One of my new guys got invited to the Met!2 James Dean, Leonardo DiCaprio, Brad Pitt, and Austin Butler. Those are all the guys you need!
Queen Z in Louis Vuitton
This could have so easily been an opportunity for Zendaya to dress in one of her many, notorious Halloween costumes. Instead, she looks chic, and it’s memorable to see her so effortless when she is so often too dressed up.
Whoopi Goldberg in Thom Browne
I guess there’s a time and a place for this kind of trompe l’oeil stupidity, and the time is now. Fine! Love her!
Pamela Anderson in Tory Burch
This isn’t anything “on theme,” per se, but how exactly Pamela Anderson might honor black menswear, I’m not sure. This is a great dress.
Bad Bunny in Prada
I really like the accessories and the crop on the jacket. It’s hard for me to tolerate the length of the pants, but I will!
Demi Moore in Thom Browne
This look is neither offensive or exciting to me, but I just think she is pretty and I am stupid.
Lana Del Rey in Valentino
I LOVE this. Fabrics and shapes seem deferential without being over the top. Viva Michele!
Doja Cat in Marc Jacobs
This is classic Marc, and is referential in swag without being boring, too historically specific, or ugly. It is a little costume-y, but the styling saves it. There weren’t nearly enough 20th century references.
Shah Rukh Khan in Sabyasachi
When Shah Rukh Kahn appeared on my screen with a cane and a big “K” necklace, I could not believe my eyes. Vogue claims this is “the first Bollywood star to attend the Met,” which seems both correct and insane. Shah Rukh Kahn told Ego Nwodim and Teyana Taylor, “I only wear black and white.” Yes!
Nicole Kidman in Balenciaga
I liked that some of the more subdued thematic references were just, like, flounces and bustles. That makes aesthetic sense to me—in Nicole’s words to La La Anthony, simply “a garment made for me”—and how else would Nicole Kidman dress for this? I can’t get over her hair. Last Year I wrote that she has been the world’s best dressed movie star for 25 years, which is a title she is not escaping.
Vittoria Ceretti in Moncler
I don’t know if I like or don’t like this. But this is Vittoria Ceretti, Leonardo DiCaprio’s girlfriend who shares my birthday but is younger than me!
Which looks were your favorite? Which did you hate? Do you wish I had covered anything else? Sound off!
All credit for the IDs go to Check The Tag on IG, unless I did it or linked otherwise. I will edit/correct the post if any of the ones I did are wrong.
This was a great Met Gala for me tbh because I love women in suits and some of the men finally lived a little. I don't know who the hell Laura Harrier is but that look alone made it the most fun for me since Heavenly Bodies lol. Doja Cat was great. I liked Gigi's dress as a nod to Josephine Baker. Lorde's look was _terrible_ and I think this album is gonna be a gigantic mess (please understand I say this as one of the like ten people who loves Solar Power).
We agree on all the worsts!!!!!!!!!! What is Maya Hawke doing, like - STOP!
My favs were Myha'la and Andre 3000's big piano. Love Shaboozey's beads and Laura Harrier (fake celeb) pants. I think what Cynthia Erivo wore is like in the top half of stuff she's worn in the last year, which is not to say good but it didn't make me go "oh BROTHER" but instead just "ah." I thought Joey King looked amazing ijbol.
Tom FRANCIS 💜