• Home
  • Faces
  • Movies
  • The Diaries
  • The Briefly
  • Minimalist Fashionista
  • Selfies Interviews
  • About
  • contact
Menu

E. Nina Rothe

Film. Fashion. Life.
  • Home
  • Faces
  • Movies
  • The Diaries
  • The Briefly
  • Minimalist Fashionista
  • Selfies Interviews
  • About
  • contact
×

“What is elegance? Soap and water!” - Cecil Beaton

Andre Leon Talley, the original Black Dandy!

'Tailored for You': The 2025 Met Gala dress code is announced

E. Nina Rothe February 6, 2025

And this May 5th extravaganza starting on the steps of the Met in NYC will coincide, as usual, with the museum’s costume exhibition which this year is titled ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’.

With Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky and Pharrell Williams co-chairing this year’s Met Costume Gala, along with usual suspect Anna Wintour of Vogue and 2025 Honorary Chair LeBron James, you know this is going to be an affair to remember.

The inspiration for this year’s theme ‘Tailored for You’ comes from the exhibition which will open at the Met in Manhattan on May 10th and will run through the end of October of 2025. ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’ promises to “present a cultural and historical examination of the Black dandy, from the figure’s emergence in Enlightenment Europe during the 18th century to today’s incarnations in cities around the world,” as the Met’s website explains.

The exhibition itself is inspired by guest curator Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, and will explore the importance of sartorial style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora.

“Historically, the term dandy was used to describe someone—often a man—who is extremely devoted to style and approaches it as a discipline,” the Met’s online description continues. “Dandyism was initially imposed on Black men in 18th-century Europe as the Atlantic slave trade and an emerging culture of consumerism created a trend of fashionably dressed, or dandified, servants. Dandyism offered Black people an opportunity to use clothing, gesture, irony, and wit to transform their given identities and imagine new ways of embodying political and social possibilities.”

More recently, Black Dandies have also started a “society for elegant environments and people” in the Central African nations of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Republic of Congo, where they call themselves "sapeurs" — for men — and "sapeuses" — for women. The term comes from the French phrase "se saper," which means "to dress with class.” You can see an image of some of them above.

And then there are the photographs of London-based Moroccan photographer Hassan Hajjaj, who shoots Black Dandies through the sensibilities of a MENA lens. His Instagram account is deliciously wonderful, check it out!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Hassan Hajjaj (@hassanhajjaj_larache)

I remember when I interviewed fashion historian and curator Olivier Saillard at Pitti Uomo for The National newspaper and he told me a story about an English dandy he once met in the home of Madame Carven, the couturier. “He had a very nice costume [suit in French] from Saville Row and inside the pocket he had a paper where he would have written the day when he would need to wash the costume,” Saillard recalled for me. “He didn’t move too much,” he added “this English dandy, so as not to damage or wrinkle his suit, one of only ten he owned, and in the areas where moths had gotten to the wool, the dandy had “embroidered the holes, with the dates of the year — how poetic is that!” This is what comes to mind when the word “dandy” appears for yours truly.

The exhibition, which is made possible at the Met thanks to Louis Vuitton, will tell the Black Dandy’s story over time through a range of media, such as garments and accessories, drawings and prints, and paintings, photographs, film excerpts, and more. Taken together, these narratives offer a history and description of Black dandyism as a discrete phenomenon that reflects broader issues of power and race in the Black diaspora.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Andre Leon Talley (@andreltalley)

The committee members for this year are André 3000, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens, Grace Wales Bonner, Jordan Casteel, Dapper Dan, Doechii, Ayo Edebiri, Edward Enninful, Jeremy O. Harris, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Rashid Johnson, Regina King, Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, Audra McDonald, Janelle Monáe, Jeremy Pope, Angel Reese, Sha'Carri Richardson, Olivier Rousteing, Tyla, USHER, and Kara Walker.

Nigerian-American Chef Kwame Onwuachi will create The Met Gala menu and artist Cy Gavin will provide the creative direction for the red carpet design, with other décor concepts led by Derek McLane and Raúl Àvila.

For more information on the exhibition in NYC and to book advance tickets, check out the Met’s website.

Images sourced online.

In Minimalist fashionista Tags Met Gala, Metropolitan Museum, Tailored for You, NYC, Cy Gavin, Kwame Onwuachi, Derek McLane, Raúl Àvila, André 3000, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Simone Biles and Jonathan Owens, Grace Wales Bonner, Jordan Casteel, Dapper Dan, Doechii, Ayo Edebiri, Edward Enninful, Jeremy O. Harris, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Rashid Johnson, Regina King, Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, Audra McDonald, Janelle Monáe, Jeremy Pope, Angel Reese, Sha'Carri Richardson, Olivier Rousteing, Tyla, USHER, Kara Walker, Louis Vuitton, Black Dandy, Olivier Saillard, PItti Uomo, The National Abu Dhabi, Hassan Hajjaj, Democratic Republic of Congo, Republic of Congo, Sapeurs, Sapeuses, Dandy, Andre Leon Talley, Monica L. Miller, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, Superfine: Tailoring Black Sstyle, Met Costume exhibition, LeBron James, Anna Wintour, Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams
← Sandy Powell's costumes, a million possible wrong turns and the redeeming qualities of Disney's 'Snow White'"Trying to put myself in her shoes": Massimo Cantini Parrini's costumes for 'Maria' included in Royal Opera House tour in London →
Post Archive
  • May 2025
  • April 2025
  • March 2025
  • February 2025
  • January 2025
  • December 2024
  • November 2024
  • October 2024
  • September 2024
  • August 2024
  • July 2024
  • June 2024
  • May 2024
  • April 2024
  • March 2024
  • February 2024
  • January 2024
  • December 2023
  • November 2023
  • October 2023
  • September 2023
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • November 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • April 2020
  • February 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
 

Featured Posts

Featured
The Extrardinary Miss Flower review for E Nina Rothe.jpg
May 2, 2025
The power of one, letter: 'The Extraordinary Miss Flower' review
May 2, 2025
May 2, 2025
Most People Die on Sundays for ENinaRothe.jpg
Apr 28, 2025
To be young, gifted and... gay! A review of Iair Said's 'Most People Die on Sundays'
Apr 28, 2025
Apr 28, 2025
the-accountant-2-ben-affleck-jon-bernthal for ENinaRothe.jpg
Apr 25, 2025
I'll give you one, no make that 2 good reasons to watch 'The Accountant 2' with Ben Affleck
Apr 25, 2025
Apr 25, 2025
UnBroken_Weber_Siblings_Allied Forces_Bremerhaven_Germany_1946 for ENinaRothe.png
Apr 21, 2025
Courage decoded: Beth Lane's 'UnBroken' is the film you need to watch on Netflix
Apr 21, 2025
Apr 21, 2025
Olmo Schnabel's Pet Shop Days for ENinaRothe.jpg
Mar 12, 2025
Olmo Schnabel's 'Pet Shop Days', EP'd by Martin Scorsese to finally release in the US
Mar 12, 2025
Mar 12, 2025