A Philadelphia native is among the new 2025 Met Gala chairs that were announced this week.
Philly's own Colman Domingo joins Pharrell Williams, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky and LeBron James to help the museum launch an exhibit examining Black style in menswear over the centuries.
Williams and Hamilton were on hand Wednesday morning to help officials at the Metropolitan Museum of Art announce "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style," the spring exhibit that will be launched by the Met Gala on May 5.
A precise dress code for the star-studded gala — tailored specifically to the exhibit's theme — will be announced early next year.
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And this one's for the guys: It's the first fashion exhibit at the Met in over 20 years to focus exclusively on menswear, which explains the almost all-male slate of hosts. Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who oversees the gala each year, rounds out the list of co-chairs.
Colman Domingo stars in HBO's "Euphoria" as well as the film "Rustin" which earned him an Outstanding Performance and was honored by the Critics Choice Association with the Actor Award. According to his website, he is also well-versed in the theater world having performed off-Broadway and in British and Australian productions.
A graduate of Temple University, he was given an honorary doctorate in Humane Letters in 2020 from Montgomery County's Ursinus College.
Domingo took to his Instagram on Wednesday to announce being named as a co-chair for this year's Met Gala saying, in part, "This truly is an [exceptional] honor."
Museum director and CEO Max Hollein said the exhibit, which will run for six months — more than previous Met fashion exhibits — would explore “the importance of sartorial style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora,” and would celebrate “the power of style as a democratic tool for rejecting stereotypes and accessing new possibilities.” He noted it was inspired by a book, “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity” by Monica L. Miller (a Barnard professor and guest curator of the show).
Andrew Bolton, chief curator at the Met's Costume Institute. noted that in the last few years menswear has been undergoing a renaissance.
“That’s thanks in no small part to men of style like Lewis (Hamilton) and his fellow co-chairs, men who aren’t afraid to take risks when it comes to their self-presentation,” Bolton said. He added that Williams was among a group of talented Black designers that represent “a flowering of Black creativity in fashion that were very proud to highlight in this exhibition.”
Miller, the author and guest curator, noted that back in the 1780s, “dandies” were often defined as “men who paid distinct and sometimes excessive attention to dress.
“Historical definitions of dandyism range from absolute precision in dress and tailoring to flamboyance and fabulousness," Miller said. The show will focus specifically on Black dandyism and its various manifestations.
The Met Gala red carpet is always one of the biggest pop culture spectacles of the year with stars like Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, Billy Porter and Rihanna wearing outfits tailored to the night’s theme. It is also a huge fundraiser: Last year's gala raised more than $26 million, a record and an enormous sum for such an event.
“Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" will be open to the public from May 10 to October 26, 2025.
