With its $75,000 ticket price and star-studded guest list, the Met Gala is a major moment for celebrities and pop culture aficionados alike. The annual event, which ushers in the spring exhibit for the Costume Institute at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, is known as fashion’s biggest night — but for everyone else watching from home, it’s an even bigger night for red carpet looks, celebrity memes and watercooler fodder.
This year, the Costume Institute’s spring exhibition is called “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” celebrating the style, politics and history of the way Black men dress. On the red carpet, celebrities are expected to dress according to theme. How well a theme is interpreted by attendees typically varies from year to year, just as widely as the themes themselves.
Here’s what you need to know about this year’s Met Gala.
When is the Met Gala?
As always, the Met Gala will be held on the first Monday of May. This year, it falls on May 5. Guest arrivals are scheduled from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. ET, but some celebrities may show up fashionably late.
Where is the Met Gala?
The Met Gala is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
How do I watch the Met Gala?
While the gala itself is strictly off-limits to press (attendees must abide by a no-phone policy) the event is most famous for its red carpet, which can be watched via livestream on Vogue.com, YouTube or E!. This year, singer and actor Teyana Taylor, actor and producer La La Anthony and “Saturday Night Live” star Ego Nwodim will host the Met Gala livestream for Vogue.
What is the Met Gala’s theme this year?
The 2025 Met Gala’s theme is “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” which is also the spring exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. The Costume Institute — which is funded by proceeds raised at the Met Gala — holds tens of thousands of items in its archives dating back hundreds of years, and is housed in the Anna Wintour Costume Center of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, named for the Vogue editor-in-chief, who has chaired the gala since the 1990s.
This year’s theme will “explore the role of sartorial style in forming Black identities, focusing on the emergence, significance, and proliferation of the Black dandy,” according to Vogue, and is inspired by guest curator Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.”
“Black style is really related to thinking about how fashion and power connect,” Miller told Vogue. “The way that people are styled, are fashioned or fashion themselves, in response to the degree of agency that they feel — silhouettes change, use of pattern, color — all of those things change in relation to time, and relationship to history.”
“Superfine” is organized into 12 sections focusing on traits that define the style: ownership, presence, distinction, disguise, freedom, champion, respectability, jook, heritage, beauty, cool and cosmopolitanism.
“Historically, made-to-wear clothing was not as available for Black people. So the tailor became a very, very important person in a community,” Miller said, adding: “The tailor in Black communities was somebody who would know about people’s lives because of the ways in which people would visit the tailor for these special occasions.”
How will celebrities dress according to the theme?
The dress code is “tailored for you,” so perfectly tailored menswear staples will likely dominate the famed carpeted steps leading up to the event.
Viewers may expect to see “takes on suiting — from versions of the zoot silhouette popularized by jazz musicians in the 1940s to the bold, colorful styles worn by Congolese sapeurs,” according to Vogue.
What celebrities are on the host committee this year?
In addition to Wintour, actor Colman Domingo, musicians Pharrell Williams and A$AP Rocky, and Formula One competitor Lewis Hamilton will co-chair the gala. NBA star LeBron James will serve as an honorary co-chair.
The 2025 host committee features André 3000, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jordan Casteel, Dapper Dan, Doechii, Ayo Edebiri, Edward Enninful, Jeremy O. Harris, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Rashid Johnson, Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, Audra McDonald, Janelle Monáe, Jeremy Pope, Angel Reese, Sha’Carri Richardson, Tyla, Usher and Kara Walker.
Who else is going to the Met Gala?
The Met Gala guest list is top secret, but usually contains a few hundred singers, actors, athletes, poets and other celebrities. Some stars return to the red carpet almost every year, such as Rihanna and her partner, A$AP Rocky, plus Zendaya, the Kardashians, Sarah Jessica Parker and Blake Lively.
For those who aren’t handpicked to attend the gala, tickets are available for $75,000, but the final guest list is still approved by Wintour.
Who is boycotting the Met Gala?
Outspoken Kennedy heir Jack Schlossberg is boycotting the Met Gala, he announced in an Instagram post in April. The former Vogue political correspondent said, “I can’t go in good conscience with so much happening around the world and at home,” and tagged Wintour in the video.
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