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The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute announced Wednesday that the theme of its Spring exhibition will celebrate the history of menswear through the lens of the Black diaspora.
Dubbed “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” the exhibition will be curated by Andrew Bolton, curator-in-charge at The Costume Institute, and Monica Miller, a professor and the chair of Africana Studies at Barnard College as well as the author of Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, which inspired the presentation.
The exhibition will centre around the theme of Black Dandyism, a concept that points to a style of dress adopted by formerly enslaved Black men in the Americas and Europe in the 18th century with flamboyant fashion tastes often mixing European and African codes. It will also explore how fashion and style have contributed to the creation of Black diasporic identity and interrogate ideas around ownership, zoot, or exaggerated style, and cosmopolitanism. The work of Black designers, including the late Virgil Abloh, founder of Off-White and former creative director of Louis Vuitton Mens before his passing in 2021, Grace Wales Bonner, founder of Wales Bonner, and Pharrell Williams, Louis Vuitton Men’s creative director, will be displayed alongside historical garments and jewellery dating as far back as the 18th century.
“Over the years, menswear has undergone somewhat of a renaissance,” said Bolton. “At the vanguard of this revitalisation is a group of extremely talented Black designers … who are constantly challenging and pushing forward while also looking at the past for inspiration.”
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The move furthers The Costume Institute’s of goal of diversifying its collections, said Bolton, noting that the exhibition will be its first to focus on Black Dandyism and The Costume Institute’s first since “Bravehearts: Men in Skirts” in 2003 to focus exclusively on menswear.
The Met Gala, which will be held on May 5, 2025, will be co-chaired by four Black menswear designers and tastemakers alongside Condé Nast chief creative officer Anna Wintour: Pharrell Williams, actor Colman Domingo, F1 racer Lewis Hamilton and musician A$AP Rocky. Basketball superstar LeBron James is an honorary chair.
“As an artist who was literally born and raised in the shadow of where the African diaspora expanded … celebrating an exhibit focused on Black dandyism and the African diaspora is really, for me, a full circle moment,” said Williams. “It’s literally the dream.”
Sponsors of the gala and exhibition include Louis Vuitton, Condé Nast and Instagram. The Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation, Dr. Precious Moloi-Motsepe and Africa Fashion International, and The Perry Foundation have also contributed funding.
The exhibition will be available for public viewing beginning on May 10, 2025 through Oct. 26, 2025.
