Each year, the world of fashion culminates on the first Monday of May. The Met Gala, an evening of opulence and drama hosted at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, brings together paragons from the worlds of fashion, arts, and politics to raise money for the Costume Institute’s latest exhibition. This year, the exhibition is titled “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” and tonight, we celebrated the theme “Tailored for You.”

It was an evening like no other — for one, the red carpet was blue. 

With A$AP Rocky, Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, and Pharrel Williams as co-chairs, we saw a fixation on pinstripes, strong silhouettes, and, most notably, references: Lewis Hamilton paid homage to his African heritage with a cowrie shell-lined sash by Wales Bonner, Dapper Dan served his signature logomania look in a zoot suit, and Law Roach channeled his inner Prince, all among other nods to late fashion icons by the likes of Andre Leon Talley and Virgil Abloh.

This year’s theme draws inspiration from a book by Monica L. Miller, the curator of this year’s Costume Institute exhibition, titled  Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. While dandyism may have an emphasis on suiting, Miller insists that “fastidiousness or ostentation in dress would seem to matter only to those keeping up with haute couture, but such choices are instead descriptive of radical changes in social, economic, and political hierarchies that result in new expressions of class, gender, sexual, national, and, as we will see, racial identities.” Tonight’s looks weren’t just interesting takes on suiting, they were a sign of the times. 

What do you think? Here are some of our favourite looks.

Colman Domingo in Valentino and Boucheron

Lewis Hamilton in Wales Bonner

Henry Golding in Ozwald Boateng

Justin Jefferson with Public School

Jeremy Pope in Maison Margiela

Willy Chavarria and Maluma

Christian Latchman

S.Coups in Boss

Alton Mason in Dolce and Gabbana