Read the 1934 Nora Neale Hurston essay that inspired next year’s Met Gala theme.
The Met Gala is being literary again. On Wednesday, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced the Costume Institute’s spring 2025 exhibition, which also traditionally serves as the Met Gala theme: “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.”
First of all, according to Vogue, the exhibition draws from Barnard professor Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, and “will feature garments, paintings, photographs, and more—all exploring the indelible style of Black men in the context of dandyism, from the 18th century through present day.” Miller will also be a guest curator for the show.
“Dandyism, for the unacquainted, is an exuberant attention to dress,” writes Vogue‘s Nicole Phelps.
In advance of [Wednesday’s] announcement, Miller said another definition is “dressing wisely and well.” She described Black dandyism as “a strategy and a tool to rethink identity, to reimagine the self in a different context. To really push a boundary—especially during the time of enslavement, to really push a boundary on who and what counts as human, even.” The history of Black dandyism that the exhibition showcases will “illustrate how Black people transformed from being enslaved and stylized as luxury items, acquired like any other signifier of wealth and status, to autonomous self-fashioning individuals who are global trendsetters.” If, as Miller has argued, the Black dandy originates in the space between hyper-visibility (on the red carpet, say) and invisibility (in establishment institutions like The Met), this show is poised to address that.
The exhibition, Phelps tells us, will be “arranged by 12 characteristics of Black dandyism, an organizational principle informed by a 1934 Zora Neale Hurston essay, “The Characteristics of Negro Expression.” The sections will tell the story of the Black dandy’s evolution over time via not just garments and accessories, but a range of media that includes drawings, paintings, photographs, and film excerpts.” If you, like us here at Lit Hub, enjoy doing the extra credit reading, you can find Hurston’s essay here.
Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams, and Anna Wintour will co-chair, with LeBron James as honorary chair. The specific dress code has yet to be announced.
[h/t The Cut]
