The China Mail - Stars shine at Met Gala, showcasing Black dandyism

The blockbuster night's theme explores the sharply tailored dandy aesthetic and its rich, complicated history. It also celebrates the opening of a corresponding exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Costume Institute.

But for the fashionistas, the Met Gala is simply one of the world's top red carpets with blinding star power.

Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, two of the co-chairs of fashion's marquee event, were among the early arrivals alongside gala supremo Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue.

Domingo paid tribute to the late Andre Leon Talley, Vogue's first Black creative director and one of fashion's towering figures, in a royal blue Valentino cape with a glittering white collar over a snazzy black and gold jacket and gray tweed trousers.

Hamilton meanwhile wowed in a sharp cream suit and matching backwards cap, diamonds glittering in his ears, as well as on his lapel, cuffs and hands.

And musician and designer Pharrell Williams, another co-chair, looked snappy in a short, pearl-encrusted white jacket and flared black tuxedo trousers.

Among the women in attendance, actress Teyana Taylor definitely understood the assignment, arriving in a tailored black suit with red pinstripes and matching huge red coat, the back fully pleated and "Harlem Rose" embossed in the fabric.

The evening comes five years after the enormous anti-racist uprising of the Black Lives Matter movement, which pushed a number of cultural institutions in the United States to grapple with their representation of race and diversity.

This Met theme is years in the making but now coincides with Donald Trump's recent efforts to quash institutional initiatives to promote diversity -- a push to keep culture and history defined on the Republican president's terms.

The Met Gala and its exhibit, "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style," promises a sharp contrast to that notion, a deep dive into Black dandyism from the 18th century to today.

"Obviously, this exhibition was planned many years ago, and we didn't know what would be happening in the political arena, but it's taken on a new sense of importance and purpose," Wintour told AFP.

- 'Dream' -

Guest curator and Barnard professor Monica Miller's book "Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity" was the Met's inspiration.

Her book details how dandyism was a style imposed on Black men in 18th century Europe, when well-dressed "dandified" servants became a trend.

But Black men throughout history subverted the concept as a means of cultivating power, transforming aesthetic and elegance into a means of identity establishment and social mobility.

During the vibrant Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, men wore sharp suits and polished shoes as a show of defiance in racially segregated America.

"Superfine" is a rare Costume Institute exhibition to spotlight men and male fashion, and the first to focus on Black designers and artists.

At the theme's announcement ceremony, Williams -- Louis Vuitton's creative director of menswear -- called the exhibit "a dream."

"As an artist who was literally born and raised in the shadow of where the African diaspora expanded into the country that would become America, celebrating an exhibit centered on Black dandyism and the African diaspora is really, for me, a full circle moment," said Williams, who is from Virginia.

The Met Gala was first organized in 1948 and for decades was reserved for New York high society -- until Wintour transformed the party into a high-profile catwalk for the rich and famous in the 1990s.

It remains a fundraiser for the Costume Institute, but it's also a social media extravaganza where stars and sponsors mingle at a party that celebrates fashion in its most over-the-top form.

According to The New York Times, a seat at the dinner in 2024 cost $75,000 and a full table went for $350,000.

The famed Manhattan museum reported last year's edition raked in some $26 million.

Basketball legend LeBron James was named as an honorary chair, but withdrew Monday from appearing at the event, confirming reports that he suffered a knee injury last week and saying on X: "Hate to miss an historical event!"

A.Kwok--ThChM