Met Gala 2025: Black dandyism, deception and lessons for Africa

Never before had a Met Gala so electrified the creative African and diasporic sphere. The announcement of the theme “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” sparked unprecedented excitement: designers, media, influencers—all were finally expecting recognition for a heritage too often marginalized. The whole conversation prior to it reminded me of an episode of ACT, my podcast with Thomas Mondo dedicated to innovation and creative culture, where we’ve discussed Black Luxury, and the urgent need to move beyond mere visibility toward true narrative sovereignty.

How did the historic moment turned out ?

Let’s remember the impatience that preceded the evening of May 5th 2025: on social networks, in studios, in specialized media, Africa and its diaspora held their breath. For once, the Met Gala seemed ready to do justice to an entire chapter of fashion history Met Gala—Black Dandyism, elegant resistance, and identity reinvention. Expectations were immense, pride palpable.

On the red carpet, African presence was indeed visible, but depth was deeply lacking. Yes, Ozwald Boateng, Ugo Mozie, Orange Culture, Anifa Mvuemba and David Tlale dressed stars, and Niyi Okuboyejo designed beautiful pieces for Taraji P. Henson.
Yet, the taste, the flavour of Lagos, Accra, Johannesburg was lacking. Their interventions remained cautious, couldn’t break free from the english sartorialism as if the boldness of the moment had been diluted by the need to please an international scene that, at its core, allows little room for radical affirmation. The cultural resonance—the kind that transcends mere trends—was sadly missing.

That deception provoke a serie of questions, that I am still attempting to answer. What is really the creative signature of some of our most sought-after designers ? Do we have the fire of geniuses such as Elsa Schiaparelli, Christian Dior of Issey Miyake ? Can we create a language that is unique, recognizable, powerful enough to transcend the trends and generations ? If we can easily blend at the MET Gala, is it that our real fashion signatures are in the street of Lagos or Kinshasa, where there are no cameras and where our mothers are bolder with their Gele headwraps ?

A spectacle of Emptiness

Thomas Mondo, highlighted - in a post on linkedin that resonated with a lot of industry professional- the Met Gala’s inability to go beyond the surface and honour the depth of Black Dandyism. As Thomas notes, “Black dandyism is not a trend. It’s a political gesture. An art of subversion. A way of standing tall, through elegance, in the face of oppression.” Yet too many looks remained clichés, appropriations, or symbols of laziness, where courage, memory, and transmission were needed.

This edition of the Met Gala must serve as a lesson: Africa should no longer wait to be celebrated in New York to exist. As Thomas Mondo emphasizes, “the true triumph of Black Luxury is to create the conditions for its own celebration.” The continent’s history is rich with festivals, fashion weeks, and platforms just waiting to be consolidated and elevated to global rendezvous. Cultural sovereignty is not begged for—it is built. It is up to us to create our own spaces of celebration, to invite the world, and to make each moment an opportunity for transmission, emancipation, and pride.

The Met Gala’s $75,000 tickets and Anna Wintour’s guest curation is a powerful marketing engine that raised $31 millions in 2025 (highest amount raised since 1948) for the Costume Institute, but its gatekeeping often sidelines marginalized voices. For African designers, participation hinges on Western validation-a dynamic AFI sought to disrupt. Yet, as noted on Africa Reimagined by Ezreen Benissan “Too few African designers graced the red carpet, despite AFI’s sponsorship”

The Lesson came from Diljit Dosanjh’s Statement

Ironically, it was an Indian actor, Diljit Dosanjh, who embodied the evening’s most powerful gesture.
He made the kind of statement that I was expecting, dressed in an ivory Sherwani embroidered with the map of Punjab and Gurmukhi characters, he asserted his heritage on the world’s most globalized luxury stage, yes that was powerful. But the most striking symbol was his refusal (or rather, the impossibility) to wear the legendary Cartier necklace of the Maharaja of Patiala, which the brand declined to lend him—despite having loaned it to a American influencer in 2022. This refusal resonated as a stark reminder of the persistent fault lines in the luxury industry: history, legitimacy, and memory are not to be treated lightly. By rejecting appropriation and embracing a rooted approach, Dosanjh offered the only truly cultural statement of the evening, celebrated far beyond the Indian community. This gesture, far from mere posturing, revealed what this Met Gala could—and should—have been for Africa : a moment of affirmation, transmission, and dialogue with history.

The Urgency of a Wealth-Creating System

But we must go further.
What Africa lacks is a well-oiled, wealth-creating system that values its creators and allows them to thrive without waiting for outside validation. Today, gaining access to the Met Gala also means turning on the cash machine: buying your seat, sponsoring a table, financing an artist’s presence and above all funding the museum, the salaries, the board and their expenses. These are the rules of the prestige market, and only those able to mobilize significant capital can break through. Can we check what is hapenning in the US and really assess, if we, as Africans want to play that game and continue to serve other communities and leave our own communities to be taken care of by NGO’S ?

The boldness to dare, to build, to break free from models with limitations from elsewhere —that is the mission of our generation. It is up to us to finish this work, to create the conditions for a sovereign, inclusive African luxury that truly generates wealth for communities locally in those little villages where the most wealth could be created from yet we have decided that the mission should be led by the red cross.
To preserve our heritage and build museums that can teach our communities about identity, hard work and help build institutions that we deserve, as the late Koyo Kouoh said :

“You have to set up your own house and build your own home as opposed to trying to get into someone else's castle.”

Cover image : Adobe stock