Teyana Taylor was the look to beat at the 2025 Met Gala on May 5, as she showed up and showed out in a jaw-dropping three-piece pinstripe zoot suit, dramatic burgundy cape and impeccable rose and crystal detailing that gave fashion appreciators a bountiful feast on which to gaze as the details unraveled.
The 34-year-old singer-songwriter, dancer and actress, who served as co-host of the Vogue carpet livestream Monday night, wore custom Marc Jacobs and was styled by two-time Academy Award-winning costume designer Ruth E. Carter for the historic look that paid homage to the once-illegal suits that rose to popularity during the Harlem Renaissance, when popular performers like Cab Calloway and Lionel Hampton favored them.
The best looks from the 2025 Met Gala red carpetAccording to the National WWII Museum and historian Kathy Peiss, the flowy fit of the suits looked good on the dance floor, allowing the style to quickly spread to other immigrant populations and to the West Coast.
1942 wartime rationing led to zoot suits becoming illegal due to the extra fabric needed to produce them, and eventually they became synonymous with rebellion and crime, leading to the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots in Los Angeles, during which U.S. servicemen and white residents attacked and beat scores of Mexican American, Filipino American and Black youths who were wearing the suits.
In addition to Taylor's nod to the suits' historical significance, her 2018 song "Rose in Harlem" inspired many of the outfit's other details, from the words "Harlem Rose" embroidered in tonal red thread along the edge of the cape to satin roses blossoming out of black, crystallized vines woven across and down her back, where the cape's structured edges gave way to an ocean of flowing pleats.
To finish the look, Taylor donned a burgundy top hat with a large ostrich feather atop a matching durag. The rich red tones were continued throughout the ensemble with leather gloves, a walking stick, and what looked to be platinum jewelry studded with ruby and onyx stones.
In an interview with Vogue, Taylor said of the look, "When The Met is Teyana Taylor'd to you, it's the moment we were waiting on."
This year's Met Gala theme was "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style." Both the theme and corresponding Costume Institute exhibit, which were announced in October 2024, took inspiration from Monica L. Miller's 2009 book "Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity," according to Vogue.
The night's dress code was "Tailored for You," which was "a nod to the exhibition's focus on suiting and menswear, from specific silhouettes to various fabrics and accessories -- that is purposefully designed to both provide guidance and invite creative interpretation," according to a press release.
