Warning to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers: This story contains references to a deceased person.
Sport and fashion’s love affair looks set to continue at the 2025 Met Gala, whose co-chairs and theme have been announced, with F1 driver and Dior brand ambassador Lewis Hamilton among Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour’s fellow party planners.
The gala, set to take place on May 5, will precede the Met Costume Institute’s exhibition, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style and marks Wintour’s 30th anniversary as event chair. Given the subject of the exhibition, an all-male, all-black line-up of co-chairs has been unveiled: Hamilton, rapper A$AP Rocky (aka Mr Rihanna), music producer turned Louis Vuitton menswear designer Pharrell Williams, and Euphoria actor Colman Domingo.
Wintour’s wingmen (from left) Lewis Hamilton, Colman Domingo, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams and LeBron James.Credit: Getty/AP
For an extra sprinkle of star power, NBA legend LeBron James will serve as honorary co-chair, meaning he may be spared the unenviable task of working out the seating arrangements.
As for what celebrities will wear to the gala, whose dress code will riff off the exhibition’s theme, will we see couture takes on tailoring or spins on gender-bending designs? And what will Rihanna, a former co-chair herself and red carpet favourite, wear?
Traditionally, designers accompany their celebrity muses on the red carpet. But with so many positions at the top of the world’s biggest labels in a state of flux, there is much mystery about who will be climbing the Met’s fabled steps come the first Monday in May.
As of this week, the top design jobs at Dior, Chanel, Gucci and Celine were all the subject of feverish speculation. Should all the appointments be made in time for the Met Gala, the red carpet could serve as a debutante ball of sorts for the new incumbents and their celebrity friends.
Anna Wintour will mark 30 years as Met Gala chair.Credit: Getty
Among the latest rumours, Loewe designer Jonathan Anderson has been linked to Dior, meaning the Briton could end up dressing Hamilton for the event.
The exhibition will be the Met’s first focus on menswear since the 2003 Men in Skirts show, as the museum seeks to become more inclusive under veteran curator Andrew Bolton. Superfine promises to feature work by some of the world’s top black designers, including Grace Wales Bonner and the late Virgil Abloh.
Speaking to The New York Times, Bolton says the exhibition is the first to focus on designers of colour. “I wanted to stage a show on race that could use our collection to tell a story that had been absent from the conversation both within the museum and outside,” he says.
Rhys Ripper, co-founder of Mob in Fashion, says he loved the Met’s theme, which evokes memories of his late grandfather, Yorta Yorta man Archie Walker, himself a smart dresser in the 1950s and ’60s.
“Racial issues during this time were reflective of the issues in America and, for my family living in a country town, to succeed as a blak family, you had to work hard and fit in, you had to shine brighter, be respectable, and more than often code switch.”
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