Pop Culture Happy Hour - The Met Gala

Episode Date: May 6, 2025

Monday was fashion's biggest night: the Met Gala. And our pal Brittany Luse was paying attention to all the best and worst dressed. Today we've got an episode of the podcast It's Been A Minute – they've got a recap of the highs and lows of the night.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

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 things. 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's definitely some extent that it looks for 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 Mek 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, Brennan. 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 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 old 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 in the famed costume designer Ruth E. Carter. What I really love about Tiana Taylor is, like, she loves where she's from. Yeah. 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 Wales Bonner dressed so many people across. the board in incredible, incredible ways. I mean, FCA Twigs had this gorgeous, like, flapper-like 20 stress 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 Graceville, Bonner. You really did it. You really did it last night. Absolutely. Even Monica Miller. Yes. Oh, yes.

That was special. That was special. That was special. That was really special. Yes. Okay. Okay. And Shelton, was Antoine right? Who would you say with 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 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 Leon Talley, 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 idiosite. syncocratic style. I 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 Leontali. And I'm like, girl, I guess so. You know, anything can be. Stretching the references. Stretching the references. I guess 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 Margella 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.

Yeah. That was cute. Incredible. That was so fun. Seeing Rosalia, I mean, you describe her as a manica. 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 Jop in Custom Valentino by Ali Santos. I, this, this outfit was so gorgeous. First of all, I was like a beautiful white pant, white shirt underneath, a yellow, like mustard yellow, the golden rod, maybe even. Like golden rod with ruby piping, gold buttons, maybe not gold buttons, but a golden rod jacket, ruby piping, double breasted, the most gorgeous

coat. I'm like, I'm like literally, a part of me, I don't want to commit crimes, but apart me, I had waited outside of the Met, take it, driven my car up there, wait 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 would want to see. My best dress pick for woman was Lauren 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 Meggala has a theme. that theme is attached to the Costume Institute's exhibition, which this year is called super fine tailoring black style. That means celebrities and designers were encouraged to style looks for the mecgala 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 mechalla theme that honored a specifically black fashion tradition, which makes me wonder, y'all have seen just as many, if not more, met gala's 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 think.

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. Hmm. Say more about that. I want to hear from you all this. If you see the exhibition and you go through the imagery, so many amazing black designers are represented. They were not on the carpet. Not at all. I was like keeping the tally of each, like, I was like, okay, there's Wells Bonner, there's CJR, there's Debe, there's a Hanifa. they're 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 Botang, but I would have thought he would have been somebody as like, you know, one of the only black tailors ever on Saville 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, P.L. 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 I think of like Jeremy O. Harris, like in that Baumown looks. Like, it was very, it kind of, even the hair kind of referenced like, Ike Uday, Udave, 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. It's like, yeah. Yeah, like she, she's definitely like straggia. of that fence. Like there was obviously a lot of like uptown Pimp references.

Yes. As somebody who has seen an 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 got to be honest. Who was the worst dressed of the night, okay? 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. All right, Shelton, Antoine, we come to a point.

We've got to be honest. Who was the worst dressed of the night, okay? I have one. It was Marley-Sah. Iris and a liar. It felt so, like, disjointed. Like 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 definitely my most boring list. I had a, like, definitely a separate list of people where I was like, okay. I guess you came. I guess you came. What about you, Antoine? 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 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 was like the Osborne suit was like this is better than what was on the private the cape and the people

like you know it's a reference to Andre when he wore the blue cape and for me I just did not see it 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 his 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, the. 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 the Detroit area. A big part of black style there is matching. We love a matchy, matchy matchy match. Going to Howard for the first time and realizing that not everybody would wear like matching colors had to toe, I was in shop 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 felt a little, I felt a little lot down by the fact that there was no coordination. I also say like across the board, I feel like the cultures were like very safe.

Like very safe across the board. Like Farrell was very safe. Now, see, I want to talk about Ferrell right now because we'll talk about Ferrell right now because when I talk about my worst dress, it's actually not Farrell, although Farrell is responsible for my worst dress. Oh, my goodness. I'm looking at my worst dress, like, girl. But also, I'm really looking at Farrell, like, girl. It's Lisa Manoval. Lisa from Black Pink, La Lisa.

Custom Louis Vuitton. Okay. Now, when I first saw the look, I thought, oh, okay. It's like, it's whatever. It's kind of dry. Like, it's like an embroidered, like, sparkly, spangly blazer. And some LV tights. Why?

Why? I like none of the women that Farrell 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, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a, that's a lot of, um, because what do you mean? She's short. She's short. What does that even mean? But the panties.

I gotta talk about Lisa Mano Biles panties because she said she wanted to be a tribute to black women. Oh my goodness. Why? Okay, so the tribute. And Farrell 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, Farrell, listen. 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 out the daily seat all the way back? I don't know.

I would. I don't know. 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 Monet. because she came in the Tom Brown, the box.

Paul Taswell was a part of that. Yeah. And it was like, it was really cute. I actually really, really enjoyed that. I loved 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. Yes. 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 set 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 are something that I'm definitely going to stick with. One of my favorite things from the exhibition was like Frederick Douglass,

they have like his hat, like his jacket, and like, They had this mannequin that kind of like encompass like his body mass. And I think sometimes you don't really see like the totality of like the person. It was like this is this, his presence, like this big, boisterous like black man. And like that intention of like presenting it on this like 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 somebody of those artifacts. I think that's something that's going to stick with me. 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 to. This episode of It's Been a Minute was produced by Alexis Williams. Liam McBain.

Corey Bridges. This episode was edited by Nina Patuck. Our supervising producer is Barton Gurdwood. Our executive producer is Varylund Williams. Our VP of programming is

Yolanda Sangueni. All right. That's all for this episode of It's Been a Minute from NPR. I'm Brittany Luce. Talk soon.