Pharrell Williams to co-chair Met Gala exploring Black dandyism

Singer and designer Pharrell Williams is among the co-chairs of New York's next Met Gala, which will wade into race relations in the context of fashion, the museum announced Wednesday.

Rapper ASAP Rocky, actor and playwright Colman Domingo and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton will co-chair fashion's marquee event overseen by Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue.

Basketball legend LeBron James will serve as honorary chair.

The blockbuster night and its corresponding museum exhibit at the Met's Costume Institute will come five years after the enormous anti-racist uprising of the Black Lives Matter movement, which pushed a number of cultural institutions in the United States to grapple with their representation of race and diversity.

The Costume Institute's spring 2025 exhibition is entitled "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" and will focus on the style of Black men within the context of Black dandyism's complicated history.

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It's a show and theme inspired by guest curator Monica Miller's book "Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity."

Dandyism was a style imposed on Black men in 18th century Europe, says the Met, when well-dressed "dandified" servants became a trend.

The concept also developed throughout history and the diaspora into a means for Black men to use style as a means of creativity, expression and identity establishment.

Speaking at the announcement of the exhibit and theme on Wednesday, Williams -- the creative director of menswear at Louis Vuitton, a co-sponsor of the exhibit -- emphasized the importance of celebrating cultures that emerged from the dark origins of slavery.

"As an artist who was literally born and raised in the shadow of where the African diaspora expanded into the country that would become America, celebrating an exhibit centered on Black dandyism and the African diaspora is really, for me, a full circle moment," said Williams, who is from Virginia.

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"It's literally a dream."

Not only did members of the Black diaspora survive the horrors of slavery, he said, "but we carried the music, the culture, the beauty and the universal language across an ocean and over a quadruple century."

The Met Gala, traditionally held on the first Monday in May, was first organized in 1948 and for decades was reserved for New York high society.

Wintour, the high priestess of US fashion, took over the show in the 1990s, transforming the party into a catwalk for the rich and famous.

It's a fundraiser for the Costume Institute, but it's also a social media extravaganza that sees stars don over-the-top looks, vying to create the greatest spectacle.

According to The New York Times, a seat at the dinner in 2024 cost $75,000 and a full table went for $350,000. Last year's edition raked in some $22 million.

Source: AFP