Met Gala 2025 theme revealed as fans express concerns

The 2025 Met Gala theme has been unveiled, and while some have supported the different step, others were concerned it could go very wrong.

It’s the most anticipated night on the celebrity calendar, and next year’s Met Gala is sure to continue the tradition of hosting iconic fashion moments.

Vogue unveiled the much-anticipated dress theme for the 2025 event, ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’, which was reportedly based off the vision of author Monica L. Miller, who wrote the 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.

According to the fashion bible, the exhibit will feature garments, paintings and photographs which highlight “the indelible style of Black men in the context of dandyism, from the 18th-century through present day.”

Co-chairs for next year’s gala, which will take place May 5 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, include actor Colman Domingo, race car driver Lewis Hamilton, rappers A$AP Rocky and Pharrell Williams and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.

And while many fans of the star-studded style spectacle have celebrated the step in showcasing diversity, others were concerned it could open the doors for cultural appropriation.

Blake Lively, pictured with husband Ryan Reynolds at the 2022 Met, is considered one of the many red carpet highlights. Picture: Gilbert Carrasquillo/GC Images

“Incredibly interested to see white ppls take on this theme,” one wrote on Vogue’s Instagram post.

“This could get real problematic, real fast,” another warned.

“Am I the only nervous about this? A good theme but let’s hope no one will appropriate cultures,” a third added.

“Sounds like a recipe for appropriation disaster …” a fourth wrote.

Pharrell Williams and Lewis Hamilton pose with Vogue editor Anna Wintour to announce the Met Gala theme. Picture: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP

Many, however, expressed excitement for what stars including Zendaya, Nicki Minaj and Janelle Monae would put together for the red carpet.

“Zendaya will slay this,” one wrote.

“Nicki about to eat this theme up,” another said.

“This carpet will go down in history,” a third added.

“Yes. It’s time Black creatives are honoured for their contribution to the fashion industry,” another said.

It’s certainly not the first time a Met theme has raised concerns.

Last year, organisers made the decision to honour late Chanel designer Karl Lagerfeld with its ‘Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty’ theme.

Sydney Sweeney at the 2023 Met, honouring Karl Lagerfeld. Picture: ANGELA WEISS / AFP

Kendall Jenner, Kim Kardashian, and Kylie Jenner, pictured at last year’s Met, are regulars at the event. Picture: Kevin Mazur/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue

English actress Jameela Jamil was one of the first high-profile names to criticise the move, pointing to controversial, degrading comments the German fashion powerhouse made about women over the years.

“This man … was indeed, supremely talented, but used his platform in such a distinctly hateful way, mostly towards women, so repeatedly and up until the last years of his life, showing no remorse, offering no atonement, no apology, no help to groups he attacked … there was no explanation for his cruel outbursts,” Jameel wrote in a social media post at the time.

“Those groups were women who were sexually assaulted, the entire me too movement, gay couples who wanted to adopt, all fat people, specifically fat women, and some of his greatest harm was against Muslim refugees, and the disgusting way he spoke about people fleeing their homes for fear of their lives,” she went on.

“Why is THIS who we celebrate when there are so many AMAZING designers out there who aren’t bigoted white men? What happened to everyone’s principles and ‘advocacy.’ You don’t get to stand for justice in these areas, and then attend the celebration of someone who revelled in his own public disdain for marginalised people.”

Indeed, Lagerfeld, who died in 2019 aged 85, had stances which haven’t aged well.

He famously told German magazine Focus in 2008 that “no one wants to see curvy women.”

Later, Lagerfeld reportedly made comments about the many women who came forward with instances of sexual abuse and harassment during the MeToo movement in 2017.

“If you don’t want your pants pulled about, don’t become a model! Join a nunnery, there’ll always be a place for you in the convent,” Lagerfeld reportedly told Numero in 2018.