The 2025 Met Gala is just around the corner, and excitement is already building. Known as fashion’s biggest night, the Met Gala brings together celebrities, designers, and cultural icons for a glamorous evening at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

More than just a fashion show, the Met Gala is a major fundraising event that supports the museum’s Costume Institute. Each year, it kicks off the opening of a new fashion exhibit, and year after year, it raises tens of millions of dollars.

When and Where Is the 2025 Met Gala?

This year, the Met Gala will take place on Monday, May 5, 2025. The red carpet arrivals usually begin around 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time.

As always, the event will be held inside The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It’s one of the most iconic locations in New York, and for one night only, it transforms into the most fashionable place on Earth.

What’s the Theme This Year?

Every Met Gala is tied to a special exhibition—and 2025’s theme carries a lot of cultural meaning. The exhibit is called “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” and it takes inspiration from Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.

The exhibition will be split into 12 sections, each one highlighting a different element of Black dandy style, including:

Ownership

Presence

Distinction

Disguise

Freedom

Champion

Respectability

Jook (a term from Zora Neale Hurston’s writing that refers to leisure spaces like dance halls or bars)

Heritage

Beauty

Cool

Cosmopolitanism

These themes show how fashion has been used not just to express style, but also identity, pride, and resistance—especially in Black communities throughout history.

What Can Visitors Expect to See?

The exhibit will include clothing, paintings, photos, and artwork from both historical and contemporary artists. Names featured include Torkwase Dyson, Tanda Francis, André Grenard Matswa, and Tyler Mitchell. The exhibition spans styles from the 18th century all the way to today.

Monica L. Miller, whose book inspired the show, is working as a guest curator for the exhibit alongside Andrew Bolton, the Costume Institute’s curator in charge.

Who’s Hosting the 2025 Gala?

This year’s Met Gala is stacked with high-profile co-chairs:

Colman Domingo

Lewis Hamilton

A$AP Rocky

Pharrell Williams

Anna Wintour (as always)

Basketball legend LeBron James will also serve as an honorary chair.

In addition, the event is reviving its host committee tradition, with a group of creatives and celebrities that includes:

André 3000, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Jordan Casteel, Dapper Dan, Doechii, Ayo Edebiri, Edward Enninful, Jeremy O. Harris, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Rashid Johnson, Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee, Audra McDonald, Janelle Monáe, Jeremy Pope, Angel Reese, Sha’Carri Richardson, Tyla, Usher, and Kara Walker.

What’s the Dress Code?

The 2025 Met Gala dress code is called “Tailored for You.”

It’s a nod to the exhibit’s deep dive into menswear and suiting, especially how these styles have been reshaped and personalized by Black artists, creatives, and everyday individuals over the centuries.

Expect to see sharp tailoring, bold patterns, cultural references, and lots of statement pieces on the red carpet.

What Happens Inside the Gala?

Once guests are inside, everything becomes much more private. The Met Gala has a strict no-phone, no-social media policy, so the public doesn’t get to see much of what goes on during the actual event.

What we do know is this:

Guests enjoy a cocktail hour

Followed by a formal dinner

And usually a performance by a major artist or two

This year, dinner will be curated by chef Kwame Onwuachi, who runs Tatiana in Lincoln Center and Dōgon in Washington, DC.

Guests will also get a chance to walk through and experience the new exhibit themselves.

Who Gets Invited?

Each year, the Met Gala hosts about 450 people. This includes actors, musicians, designers, athletes, political figures, and artists—a mix of major celebrities and rising stars.

Familiar faces often return, like Blake Lively, Sarah Jessica Parker, Rihanna, and many more. The guest list is carefully chosen and highly exclusive, and the seating chart is always a hot topic behind the scenes.

How Can You Watch It?

Even if you don’t have a ticket (and let’s face it, most of us don’t), you can still catch all the action from home.

The official Met Gala livestream will air for the fifth year in a row, starting at 6 p.m. EST. It will be available on all of Vogue’s digital platforms and on YouTube.

This year’s livestream hosts are:

Teyana Taylor

La La Anthony

Ego Nwodim

They’ll be bringing exclusive interviews, red carpet coverage, and behind-the-scenes moments as they happen.

A Night of Style With a Message

The 2025 Met Gala isn’t just about who wore what. It’s about celebrating how Black culture and creativity have shaped the world of fashion—and continue to do so in powerful ways.

With its sharp dress code, meaningful theme, and top-tier guest list, this year’s event promises to be both stylish and thought-provoking.

So whether you’re watching from your couch or lucky enough to attend, get ready for a night where style meets history—and every outfit tells a story.