Superfine: Tailoring Black Style at the Met Museum in New York

Superfine, an exhibition on Black dandyism which opens this Saturday at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, presents a history of Black style through the lense of dandyism, emphasizing the importance of sartorial style to Black identity formation in the Atlantic diaspora and the ways Black designers have interpreted and reimaged this history. The exhibition aims to highlight the various styles one could employ in order to be identified as a dandy: from austere minimalism to hyper-colorful tailoring, from deconstructed denim to high tech sportswear, dispelling the stereotype of flamboyance being the only indicator of dandyism.

The Met does a remarkable job with the historical legacy of dandyism by including artifacts from the giants of the African diaspora, like Frederick Douglass’ tailcoat, a photograph of an immaculately dressed W.E.B DuBois at the 1900 Paris International Exposition, and paintings of Toussaint Louverture, the Haitian revolutionary responsible for establishing the foundation for the first democratic republic in the Americas, as well as lesser known designers like Jeffrey Banks and Morty Sills, whose dedication to tailoring was responsible for the GQ-like suaveness of menswear in the 1970s and 1980s.

However, at just thirty five, the selection of contemporary Black designers’ work representative of dandyism within the exhibition is small, a mere fraction of the hundreds of fashion houses populating America and Europe. Some designers, like Pyer Moss, are no longer in operation. Others, like Balmain, Wales Bonner, Bianca Saunders and 3.Paradis were allotted four looks each. Louis Vuitton, the show’s main sponsor, had five, not including the various accessories owned by Andre Leon Talley, the Black dandy par excellence. Some of the outfits presented could only be considered dandy if you squinted, their style too quotidian without a body to animate it. A few were clearly not of the highest quality; flimsy wools and visible seams made a regrettable impression given the show is meant to highlight the extraordinary stylistic expressions of Blackness. 

While The Met’s Costume Institute may have had good intentions by underscore the undeniable influence Black dandyism has had on style and fashion, it unintentionally revealed the dearth of Black designers at the helm of fashion houses today, giving one pause to consider why that is the case. 

Upon entering the exhibit, one is greeted with a deconstructed greatcoat by John Galliano for Dior worn by Talley. It is a spectacular example of both high craftsmanship and high design, showing what can be achieved when creativity has the backing of a monied house. There were other examples scattered throughout the show: the paired back luxe of Maximillian Davis at Ferragamo, the unapologetic glam of Olivier Rousteing at Balmain, the flamboyant tuxedo of outsized proportions by Ib Kamara at Louis Vuitton, which he dedicated to the memory of Virgil Abloh, who died before his last collection was finished, and the striking anatomical overstitching on tailored jackets by Kamara at Off White. Kamara is one of the most in-demand stylists and was a close collaborator of Abloh, which explains both of these credits, and his presence at the exhibit confirms his remarkably swift ascent within the fashion industry as a formidably talented image-maker.

Pop culture, on which Black artists have exercised outsize influence, also gets short shrift. There is one frilly blouse from Prince, a dandy personified, an angular, sequined jacket worn by disco queen Sylvester, and a tailcoat designed by Jean Paul Gaultier worn by Grace Jones in 2012 (the Armani jacket she wore on the iconic cover of her 1981 album Nightclubbing was not on view). There was nothing from the magnificently pompadoured Little Richard, the man who practically invented rock and roll, no velvet plushness or antique military jackets from guitar hero Jimi Hendrix, none of the foxy fabulousness of Sly Stone’s black leather and studs jumpsuits, or the wiggy expressions of Andre 3000, or the nerdy chic of Tyler The Creator.  

The Harlem Renaissance, arguably the apex of Black dandyism, was given fractured attention throughout the show. The era’s convergence of music, art, literature, photography and queer culture produced a flowering of stylistic inventions recognized globally both now and then. Highlighting the importance of that cultural watershed, its reverberations and artifacts still very much with us, could have served as touchstone to the exhibition’s theme, an easy entry point to those unaware of its significance or to Black dandyism.

Somewhat inexplicably, the show closed with looks by Latino designers Willy Chavarria and Luar. It is unclear as to why they were included in a show on Black dandyism, as both have stated that their work is inspired by various Latino communities. Yes, there were non-Black designers included in the show (like the aforementioned Galliano) but they were included within a context of Blackness. Chavarria and Luar’s inclusion underscores how Blackness is often viewed as porous and non-exclusive. It made for a questionable closing.

Before exiting through the gift shop, I turned around to admire the impressively dynamic set design by Torkwase Dyson, undoubtedly one of the most accomplished artists working today. Her arresting, architectural forms: geometric, monolithic, and monochrome, were illuminated to dazzling effect by cold white lighting (certain perspectives in the show gave the impression of being in a German Expressionist film). Dyson, who says her ‘hyper shapes come out of a study on the period of Black folks coming out of slavery,” was an excellent choice to imbue Superfine with an unflinching modernity synonymous with the Black dandy who rises, phoenix like,

in all of their splendor, as the beacon of beauty in times of instability and uncertainty. I only wished there was more fashion on par with Dyson’s vision.  

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Superine: Tailoring Black Style, on view through October 26th, 2025

All images courtesy of The Museum of Metropolitan Art