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Monday was fashion's biggest night, the Met Gala, and our pal Brittany Luce was paying attention to all the best and worst dressed. I'm Linda Holmes, host of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, and today we've got an episode of the podcast, It's Been a Minute. They've got a recap. Here's Brittany. Okay, Shelton and Antoine, you both saw it all. The Met Gala 2025.
Were you gooped? Were you gagged? How are you feeling? I think we had some people really show up. Yeah. And explore the theme. And I think those are going to be the looks that we talk about that I say that I like the most. I think there was definitely like a safe approach, but there definitely is an extended look to me. So what you all listening can't see right now is that laying out in front of me
are all of my notes from the Met Gala last night. It's only been like 12 hours since Fashion's Biggest Night, and I have just been dying to talk about who had the best and worst looks of the night. Thank God, culture writer Shelton Boyd-Griffith is back here with me. Hi, Shelton. Hi, thank you for having me, Brittany. And the editor-in-chief for Black Fashion Fair, Antoine Gregory. Welcome back, Antoine. Hello, thanks for having me. This is a dream team right here. Okay, I can't wait any longer. Who did it? Who won?
Who was your best dressed of the night? And before you start listing off multiple people, okay, I'm going to be vicious. You can only pick one. I feel like we should be able to pick a male and a woman. That's a good one. I think that's fair. Okay, I'll allow it. I'll allow it. I'll allow it. I'll allow it. Antoine, though, we're going to start with you. Who wore it best and why?
For me, Tiana Taylor, she absolutely killed it. I think from the shoes to the ode to Harlem about like, you know, the Harlem Rose embroidered into her cape. Like that was absolutely incredible. Oh yeah, she was wearing like a custom design that she co-designed with herself and the famed costume designer, Ruth E. Carter. What I really love about Tiana Taylor is like,
She loves where she's from. And every time she can tell you I'm from Harlem, she's going to show it. And I think that's just, it's beautiful. Yeah. I agree. I totally love it. Okay. So who is your best dressed man?
I really, really love Tyler Mitchell's look by Grace Wells Bonner. Oh, yeah. I thought it was absolutely beautiful. The white boa, the grills, the hair. At every point where he could get it right, he did. Across the board, Grace Wells Bonner dressed so many people across the board in incredible outfits.
incredible ways. I mean, FKA twigs had this gorgeous like flapper, like that was totally different than what Lewis Hamilton was wearing. That beautiful, crisp white suit with the cowrie shell details and those incredible and all that incredible jewelry and that beautiful hat just across the board. Shout out Grace Willis Bonner. You really did it. You really did.
last night. Even Monica Miller. Yes, dressing Monica Miller. The Monica Miller. That was special. That was really special. Yes. Okay, okay. And Shelton, was Antoine right? Who would you say were the best dressed man and woman of the evening?
It was kind of unexpected for me, but I really enjoyed Tessa Thompson in that proper look with the Andre Leontali church fan. Oh, my gosh. And that beautiful, big, structured coat. I loved it. It was such a sweet homage to him. That Sunday, you know, high noon on Sunday kind of reference. When I thought about, like, the ushers of the church and how they used to wear the white coats. And then, of course, the church fan. We know how much...
The church inspired Andre, his dress, the way he showed up in the world. And for her to pay homage in that way, incredible. Andre Leontali, for those who don't know, worked at Vogue from 1983 to 2013 and eventually became an editor at large for the magazine. Yeah, it was such a cute, sweet homage. I was like, oh, I love that.
I loved it. The outfit felt like something that was very true to her kind of idiosyncratic style. It didn't feel like she was trying to wear an Andre Leon Talley costume. And then, I mean, you know, I watched the red carpet interviews. I saw some people who were like...
I'm wearing a white button down and this is a tribute to Andre Leon Talley. And I'm like, girl, I guess so. You know, anything can be. Stretching the references. Stretching the references. We are creating narratives. If you said it, then sure. Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. All right. And Shelton, who was your best dressed man?
Okay. So for me, Jeremy Pope and the archival like Margiela, like bodice. Sourced from eBay, right? Yeah. I was like, I love that it's sustainable. I love that it's vintage, but also like that it's a subversive way to take on tailoring. It wasn't a suit. It was like, this is literally the starting point of tailoring. And to that same point, Rosalia as the mannequin.
Yo. That was cute. Incredible. That was so fun. Seeing Rosalia. I mean, you described her as a mannequin. I mean, that dress was smooth like porcelain. I don't know how she got there. I don't know how she...
Enjoyed the evening. I don't know how she got home. I don't know how she got into the dress. But it was like a smooth, like it was like perfectly sculpted to her body. This long white column, perfectly sculpted. There was some draping around the hips and further down the dress. But I mean, the bodice of that was like, it was the perfect mannequin. Well, you know, I did love these looks, but I'm sorry.
I just got to stay. I have to say my piece. I have to say my piece. Oh, Lord. So my best dressed man was Guillaume Jope.
in custom Valentino by Ali Santos. This outfit was so gorgeous. First of all, it was like a beautiful white pant, white shirt underneath, a yellow, like mustard yellow, golden rod maybe even, like golden rod with ruby piping, gold buttons, maybe not gold buttons, but golden rod jacket, ruby piping, double breasted,
The most gorgeous coat. I'm like, literally, a part of me, I don't want to commit crimes, but a part of me, I had waited outside of the Met, driven my car up there, waited outside of the Met and been like, you need to give me this jacket. Like, I'll fight you. I felt like a lot of the best looks from the men of the night were from men who like fully embraced both the sense of humor and also the...
Lack of a rigid approach to masculinity. That flamboyance is what people want to see. My best dressed pick for woman was Lauryn Hill, Butter Yellow, Cheney Chan. Very amazing. But we got to move on. Okay. So we already touched on this.
A little bit. Let's be clear. Every year, every year the Met Gala has a theme and that theme is attached to the Costume Institute's exhibition, which this year is called Superfine Tailoring Black Style. That means celebrities and designers were encouraged to style looks for the Met Gala inspired by the black fashion tradition known as black dandyism.
Black dandyism is about fine tailoring with flair or exuberance added to it. You know, sometimes feathers or hats or exaggerated finishes and accessories. But this was also the very first Met Gala theme that honored a specifically Black fashion tradition, which makes me wonder...
Y'all have seen just as many, if not more, Met Galas than I have. Overall, did a Black theme mean that this was like the Blackest Met Gala ever? I mean, because Black people come every single year and show up and show out. I wonder, was there anything markedly different about this event than from past events? Other than... Aside from Stevie Wonder performing, which not everybody in that room deserved, but I know that I did. I think other than...
The text saying, you know, this is the theme. I feel like we've seen the same amount of Black celebrity on the carpet. It wasn't the influx of Blackness that I would have hoped for. Same. Wait, say more about that. I want to hear from y'all on this. If you see the exhibition and you go through the imagery, so many amazing Black designers are represented there.
They were not on the carpet. Not at all. I was like keeping a tally of each. I was like, okay, there's Willis Bonner, there's CJR, there's D-Bay, there's Hanifa. There's still not enough. But no, they're also not physically there. Yeah. I think so often the designers themselves are there. Yeah.
They are not there. In my mind, I would have thought that when you're talking about tailoring Black style, like I saw Thames wearing Oswald Boateng, but I would have thought he would have been somebody as like, you know, one of the only people
Black tailors ever on Savile Row. I thought he would have been somebody who would have been a featured talent. I also want to note that one of our listeners, PL McGee, reached out wanting to know more of your thoughts on how queerness showed up.
As you both pointed out in our last episode, dandyism is intimately connected to queerness. And I wonder how you did or did not see queerness on display last night. I think it was everywhere. I think of Jeremy O. Harris in that Balmain look. It was very... Even the hair kind of referenced Ike Uday, whose work is in the exhibition. Yes. I think so many...
of the celebrities live in that space of queerness, it's in their existence. So I think even when you look at Tiana Taylor, that's someone who is just like not queer in that way, but the energy. Yeah. Yeah. Like she, she definitely like straddles that fence. Like there was obviously a lot of like uptown pimp references. Yes. As somebody who has,
Seen in Uptown Pimp or two, like the outfit felt very, a lot of the details of the outfit felt very faithful. But also too, there was a little bit of throwback kind of stud aesthetic to it. Kind of like queer references across time. All right, Shelton, Antoine, we come to a point, we gotta be honest. Who was the worst dressed of the night? Okay. I have one. I have one.
Coming up, the moment you've all been waiting for. The worst dressed of the night. We're calling it how it is and awarding special prizes after a quick break.
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All right, Shelton, Antoine, we come to a point. We got to be honest. Who was the worst dressed of the night? Okay. I have one. It was Miley Cyrus and a liar. It felt so disjointed. The designer said, this is just what we do.
and this is what it is but it felt nothing connected to like the theme it was like a nice outfit because it's a liar but like it just was not on theme for me that actually wasn't one of my worst that was one that was definitely my most boring list i had a separate list of people i was like okay i guess you came i guess you came you showed up what about you antoine who who who was your absolute worst dressed
I feel like my worst stress is less about it being a bad look, but more about me being disappointed. And for me, that's Coleman Domingo. I was not happy. I expected, I honestly expected him to turn a look. And he has so many times that he has worn looks that had he worn them to last night's event,
He would have absolutely killed it. And I felt like with this one, he just kind of came too safe. It was too safe. Even when he went to the press preview, the Oswalt suit was like, this is better than what was on the carpet. The cape. And the people were like, you know, it's a reference to Andre when he wore the blue cape. And for me, I just did not see it. The reference, I need to see the reference. The reference needs to be clear. And it was not. I was...
disappointed in the blue cape because I was like at first I saw it and I was like okay like I definitely get the Othello reference it also even the top of like the detail of like the blue cape that the top detail was like this metallic that had all this texture I was like okay this is kind of reminding me of like the costumes that like the
New Orleans Mardi Gras Indians wear. I was like, okay, I kind of see this. But, but, but, but I was expecting to see something underneath the cape. It felt like an afterthought to me because I was expecting to see something underneath the cape that matched the cape. So it would feel like this, you know, I mean, a big part, at least I'm from, I'm from the Detroit area. A big part of black style there is matching. We love a matchy matchy match. Like going to Howard for the first time,
And realizing that not everybody would wear matching colors head to toe, I was in shock because it's so important where I'm from. Yeah, I was expecting at least under the blue cape that I didn't expect to see this black and white suit. And I was a little, I felt a little down by the fact that there was no coordination. I also say like across the board, I felt like the culture is for like very safe.
like very safe across the board like pharrell was very safe see now see i want to talk about right now because when i talk about my worst dress it's actually not pharrell although pharrell is responsible for my worst dress oh my goodness i'm looking at my worst dress like girl but also i'm really a pharrell like girl um it's lisa manoval lisa from blackpink la lisa
Custom Louis Vuitton. Now, when I first saw the look, I thought, okay, it's whatever. It's kind of dry. It's like an embroidered sparkly, spangly blazer.
And some LV tights. Why? Why? Like none of the women that Pharrell dressed had on pants could wear a full pant. Yeah. That to me, I'm like, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a tailoring issue. Um, because what do you mean you told Sabrina Carpenter she can't have pants for her outfit? She's short. She's short. What does that even mean? But the panties, I got to talk about Lisa Mano balls panties because she said she wanted to be a tribute to black women. Um,
Oh my goodness. Why? Okay, so the tribute and Pharrell allowed this to happen, okay? The tribute was the faces of Black women embroidered into the panties. Why is Rosa Parks' face embroidered on your panties? Okay, what's going on? What's going on? When I saw that, I thought that was fake. I was like, oh, is this just like a Twitter edit? And I was like, oh. So, you know, Pharrell, listen. Ha ha ha.
I don't know what's going on over there. I don't know. Maybe you're not in charge of the quality control. I don't know what happened. All right. Now I have a couple more imaginary trophies to give out. We have two categories. Y'all just shout out who you think deserves them. Category number one. Oh my God. How did she get in that car? This is the award for the look that seemed humanly impossible. Like how did this person get to the Met Gala?
Because I don't see how they were able to sit down or fit their outfit inside of a car. I mean, that's Diana Ross for me immediately. I mean, that was like a 30-foot train. Yeah, I was like, how did that fit? How? That I definitely see that. What about you, Shelton? Not necessarily because it was like massive, but I think like structurally, like...
How did Rihanna get with that corset? Like that pregnancy corset is amazing, actually. Like I'm obsessed. But I'm like, you sat down with that corset in your pregnant belly. That is a good point. And that hat. Because that hat is actually too big to sit next to her in a car. So did the hat have its own car? I don't know. Did she have to lay the seat all the way back? I don't know. I would. Okay, category number two.
Size matters. Who deserves the award for the look that emphasized the biggest or the littlest looks of them all? So who was wearing something real tiny or something very big and grand?
I would say Janelle Monae because she came in the Tom Brown, the box, Paul Tazewell was a part of that. Yeah. And it was like, it was, it was really cute. I actually really, really enjoyed that. I love that. It was gigantic. I loved it. I loved it. What about you Shelton? The biggest of the littlest. Janelle's look was like, that like overcoat was huge. Before y'all go though,
Antoine, I know yesterday you toured the Black Dandyism exhibition at the Met. And I'm curious, what from the exhibition that connects this moment in fashion all the way back to the first Black people in America, what is going to stick with you in the weeks and months ahead? I think for me, it's definitely the objects. I think I was so moved by some of the paintings of Black people who...
showed up in these incredible ways that we didn't typically see. And I think we are so used to seeing images of ourselves that are not beautiful, that are not intentional. And I think for someone to have sat for a 19th century painting, there's nothing more intentional than sitting in front of a painter for hours on end to get this really incredible image of yourself, how you see yourself. So I think the objects within the exhibition
That's something that I'm definitely going to stick with. One of my favorite things from the exhibition was like,
Frederick Douglass, they have his hat, his jacket. They had this mannequin that kind of encompassed his body mass. And I think sometimes you don't really see the totality of the person. It was like, this is his presence, this big, boisterous Black man. And that intention of presenting it on this mannequin form that looked like
his body was in it. And I think also, like, I was talking to somebody yesterday, like, the ancestral, like, kind of, like, spirit and presence of, like, some of those artifacts, I think that's something that's gonna, like, stick with me. Mm-hmm.
Antoine, Shelton, thank you both so much for joining me today. No, absolutely. Thanks for having us. Thank you for having us again. That was culture writer Shelton Boyd Griffith and the editor-in-chief of Black Fashion Fair, Antoine Gregory. And please, please, please let me know your favorite looks of the night in the comments on this episode. I am dying to hear what you all think too.
This episode of It's Been a Minute was produced by Alexis Williams, Liam McBain, Corey Bridges. This episode was edited by Nina Patak. Our supervising producer is Barton Girdwood. Our executive producer is Veralyn Williams. Our VP of programming is Yolanda Sanguini. All right. That's all for this episode of It's Been a Minute from NPR. I'm Brittany Luce. Talk soon.
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