It feels foretold at this point that Zendaya is always going to make the best-dressed list wherever she goes and whatever she wears. She manages to never feel same-y though, which is a gift. That being said, Zendaya interpreted the Black Dandy theme the same as many other women, and I kind of thought other women had more fun with it. Zendaya’s custom Louis Vuitton look was a tribute to Diana Ross in Mahogany. I get that and it totally works! I kind of wish Zendaya had juiced up the look with more jewelry, especially brooches on her lapel.
It was a huge night for Louis Vuitton, especially with Pharrell Williams as co-chair this year (Pharrell is now designing for LV). Pharrell and LV were allergic to pants for women, save Zendaya. Doechii got a very cute shorts-suit ensemble. This was so fun!
Sabrina Carpenter was pantsless in LV, as was Blackpink’s Lisa. Both ensembles are… interesting, I guess.
Pharrell Williams didn’t want his wife Helen Lasichanh to wear pants either! I’m sure LV’s hosiery department will get a huge boost from the gala. Pharrell’s jacket had a pearl “pinstripe.” It was really cool.
Jeremy Allen White in LV – he could have done so much more. There needed to be more of a flare on those pants, and the jacket should have been tighter.
Anna Wintour wore LV as well – a tribute to Virgil Abloh’s cloud coat. I have to give Anna a lot of credit for this year’s theme – it could have come across as pandering and a lot of people could have interpreted the theme in really offensive ways, but this ended up being a great gala which really celebrated the history of Black fashion.
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Cover Images, Getty.
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- New York City, NY – The Met Gala “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Pictured: Doechii BACKGRID USA 5 MAY 2025 BYLINE MUST READ: BFA.com / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- 2025 Met Gala celebrating ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’ at Metropolitan Museum of Art Featuring: Sabrina Carpenter Where: New York City, New York, United States When: 05 May 2025 Credit: Matt Crossick/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Celebrities attending the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Gala 2025 in New York Featuring: Zendaya Where: New York City, United States When: 05 May 2025 Credit: Matt Crossick/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
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- Celebrities attending the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Benefit Gala 2025 in New York Featuring: Zendaya Where: New York City, United States When: 05 May 2025 Credit: Matt Crossick/PA Images/INSTARimages **NORTH AMERICA RIGHTS ONLY**
I’m going to duck and run for cover as I say this but… I preferred Anna Sawai’s tailored-white-suit-and-tie-with-floppy-wide-brimmed-hat look!
While I am not always opposed to a bodysuit moment, none of these really nailed it for me. I would have picked Lisa’s, but controversy about the bodysuit being printed with mini Rosa Parks faces, and all people being able to see is the crotch-faces is a yikes.
She looked fantastic but Anna lost me with the pinstripe going down the trousers.
Zendaya’s suit was tailored better.
To each their own, but I still preferred Zendaya’s.
Also, iirc but maybe I’m wrong?, the actual rosa parks didn’t even like the Outkast song named after her so I’m thinking she would not be a fan of this, lol.
I liked Lisa’s until I found out about Rosa Parks on her undies. Yikes is tight.
For this to be Doechii’s outfit after rolling out of the Carlyle hidden behind a team, screens, and umbrellas felt like a prank.
Pharrell and LV got some explaining to do too. Three words… Rosa Parks Panties. I need to know how exactly it was decided to honor Black Dandyism by plastering Civil Rights icons all over a K-pop star’s nether regions.
Agree completely. It’s misogynistic. A man not thinking about her work and how she’d want to be represented. It reduces Parks to sex. How could Pharrell not see that?
I don’t mind the stockings thing on pop stars. It’s Cotton Club stuff. But Ross Parks deserves respect if she is going to be commodified to the wealthy.
Did we notice that almost every woman who consulted with Pharrell personally was dressed like a playboy bunny/magician’s assistant/show girl? Sooooooooo boring, one note Then he wore that underwhelming pearl
Blazer.
I normally love whatever Z wears, but that hat is a miss for me. The rest is great.
Lisa….it looks like she left the house forgetting part of her outfit. A slim fitting skirt might have elevated this?
I didn’t mind Sabrina’s – but she looked a bit more like a circus ring master.
Zendaya’s look is absolutely unimpeachable, but not the most impactful or memorable look of the night.
Generally speaking, I think Zendaya looked lovely and the suit was impeccably tailored. But in the context of the theme, she looked boring. So many other women took the pantsuit and elevated it (Lupita, Whoopi) and hers just looked….lovely and well tailored. Beautiful look, I just would have liked to have seen some…. pizazz, i dont know, lol.
Generally speaking I love Sabrina Carpenter but I think pants would have elevated the look and really hit it out of the park. The jacket and train are gorgeous and I guess Pharrell hates pants but I think it would have helped the look.
I feel the same way. It was actually pretty boring other than a perfect fit.
Maybe she went all white bc she’s getting married this year? Lol, idk but I was like I could almost see her wearing that and just going to city hall. Or maybe not this year? Maybe it’s a long engagement? No idea.
When she was interviewed, Sabrina said that Pharrell told her “no pants” because she’s too short. On the other had, she said it was an advantage because this year she’d be able to go to the ladies’ room.
Zendaya looked great but needed to tweak her outfit a little. A fabulous brooch and cane would have been perfection IMO. Although she looked as wonderful as we have come to expect, I felt that she missed the opportunity to have more fun with it.
Loved Zendaya suit but thought a different hat choice would be better.
ugh the pantless looks 👎👎👎
If their looks included PANTS they would’ve looked amazing and on theme.
Agreed. They looked like they literally forgot their pants, a bad stress dream come to life. Lisa’s was the worst, imo. Unfortunate.
IKR? This isn’t the Emmys. You rock this red carpet with artistic interpretation not showing off the goods.
Yeah, not going to lie. I did not understand the pantsless looks for the theme of tailoring and all those looks coming from one of the co-chairs.
Zendaya’s homage to Diana Ross as Tracy Chambers in Mahogany is perfection. Doechii was super cute, but I found the pants less attendee’s looks uninteresting.
Especially as she followed Diana up the staircase!
It was almost like that entire look was designed around that photo of her on the stairs — the silhouette, white the white against the dark carpet, the posture, the hat.
I appreciate the commitment and Z looks great as always, but other looks were much more interesting and captivating.
Last night, someone said that Law Roach’s IG said it was inspired by Bianca Jagger, not Diana Ross.
Still, I loved this look. Zendaya is flawless!
I read somewhere that Pharrell didn’t design pants for Sabrina because she was short or had short legs 😳 so if the ladies weren’t wearing pants, it’s because they’re too short 🙄
Looks incomplete to me. I find the LV logo and print boring – too overused and while it’s about heritage etc, all I can think now is how many fake LV bags are there being sold around the world.
Anna Wintour must have a fantastic jewellery collection. The rock on that brooch is the size of an egg. So was the necklace she wore to receive a gong from Chuck – Romanov origins or somewhat? Her daughter is going to inherit some amazing rocks. Does she have a tiara? Would love to see her jewellery vault.
As for Zendaya, suit looked crisp to me. Didn’t like her red nails – it needed maybe a blood red brooch to match her nails or a red fedora hat or handbag. Or something. I loved her dress with roses from a couple of years ago. That was a work of art. She could have worn a rose in her lapel.
The costumes were not as loud as previous years. The compare and contrast between Rihanna’s yellow omelette outfit compared to this year…
As a short person, I hope that’s not the case. Pharrell is not the tallest himself so it shouldn’t be a big deal.
“He was like, ‘You’re quite short, so no pants for you,'” she told Anthony. “So here we are. Here we are.”
🥴
https://ew.com/sabrina-carpenter-credits-her-no-pants-met-gala-look-to-pharrell-williams-11728771
That’s disappointing. Short people need well-tailored pants and he’s the head of a fashion house.
Here I am short and wearing pants at work. As I have for decades. Probably why I’ve never been invited to the Met Gala.
Zendaya’s suit was tailored to perfection and I especially loved the detail of the brooch between the shoulder blades in back
Yes! That brooch is a perfect detail!
I loved Zendaya’s look and I also loved Anna Sawai’s. Zendaya knocked it out of the park.
Zendaya’s made me think of Virgo restraint (which means impeccable tailoring, perfection in each element, minimal extra decoration) – Beau Brummel, the original dandy transformed the suit by stripping back all of the extra elements that used to be on men’s suits and elevating simple elements to the heights of perfection. Zendaya’s suit definitely did that.
I hated the pantless ensembles.
Adding my kudos to Anna Wintour. The opening performance of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” by a gospel choir was sublime.
Have a few ladies confused dandies with tap dancers?
Doechii’s make-up is weird. Whoever painted her face in 2-tone did her no favors.
Z is always wonderful. As chair, I think she purposely kept it low-key. Chairs should never be the most noticeably outrageous.
Anna’s coat is beautiful.
Sabrina forgot her bunny ears.
If this is the best Pharrell can come up with, he’s a poor rep for LV.
People on Reddit are insisting that Law Roach said he was referencing Bianca Jagger. When I pointed out that it’s tone deaf to reference a South American woman ( fabulous as she is) on a night celebrating black style. I was downvoted, some people always have to see themselves as a main character.
I didn’t read your comment first–I saw last night that someone said Law Roach’s IG said it was for Bianca Jagger and not Diana Ross.
Beyond all that, Zendaya is once again, perfection. This suit is tailored within an inch of its life! She looks spectacular to me and not boring at all. For me, it’s all about the tailoring, and so her suit is just so stunning.
Law’s stories are right here – clearly Bianca https://www.instagram.com/stories/luxurylaw/3626107075248381933/
Virgil Abloh was a genius in fashion & artistic creativity. Pharrell Williams is not (in female fashion).
Call me crazy but I think Sabrina’s is my favorite look out of all of these. I don’t mind the pants-less look. It’s impeccably tailored and on-theme, and that color is gorgeous on her. It’s also very “Sabrina.” She kind of reminds me of Zatanna from the DC comics universe and I’m not mad about it!
Maybe I’m just an old fuddy-duddy but I think Sabrina Carpenter and Blackpink’s Lisa look like cigarette girls in a 1950’s supper club.
Agree.