The Real Statement At The 2025 Met Gala? The Hair.

As a beauty editor, I’m used to decoding the Met Gala through makeup trends and hairstyle risks. But this year, the beauty story wasn’t about risk. It was about reclamation.

The 2025 Met Gala theme—Superfine: Tailoring Black Style—was a direct nod to Black dandyism. More than a fashion aesthetic, Black dandyism is a cultural stance: an assertion of elegance and identity in the face of systemic erasure. From the Harlem Renaissance to contemporary style icons, the Black dandy has used grooming and dress to challenge the idea that refinement belongs to any one race or class.

The inspiration for this year’s theme came from Monica L. Miller’s book Slaves to Fashion, which explores how Black individuals across generations have used personal style as a tool of self-expression, resistance, and visibility. It’s a legacy built not just on tailoring, but also on texture because Black hair has always been part of that resistance.

And this year, the hair did what it always has: it told the story, in braids and buns, in gelled edges and powerful partings. It carried history. It challenged convention. And it demanded attention.

Edges Like Embroidery

The edges alone were masterpieces. Teyana Taylor’s baby hairs were sculpted into swoops of perfection. Ego Nwodim’s edgework looked architectural, styled like calligraphy on skin. There’s intimacy in how laid edges are crafted—they’re the result of care, skill, and cultural know-how passed between generations. To see them styled this deliberately on fashion’s biggest night felt less like a beauty trend and more like an ancestral nod.

Cornrows as Code

Michaela Coel’s braided rows—styled close to the scalp and threaded with gold—were deliberate and regal. Issa Rae paired a fluffy afro with face-framing braids, a silhouette that evoked both nostalgia and innovation. Venus Williams styled her cornrows with glinting silver hair jewellery, a look that felt both futuristic and rooted in legacy. These looks weren’t just aesthetic—they were coded with history.

Cornrows have long been a visual language of survival and heritage. Enslaved Africans once used them to map escape routes, hide seeds, and preserve cultural memory. In contemporary spaces, they’ve been policed, misunderstood, and at times erased—yet never lost. Wearing them at the Met, against a backdrop of historical homage, was nothing short of powerful.

Locs, Buns and the Politics of Texture

Natural texture wasn’t just visible at this year’s Met Gala—it was celebrated. Coco Jones wore a dramatic floor-length braid that looked like something out of a modern fairytale, grounded in cultural pride. Doechii arrived with a voluminous Afro, her coils taking up space in the best way possible, while Keke Palmer’s fiery-toned locs, crowned with a feathered headpiece, felt like a fusion of glamour and groundedness.

These weren’t just hairstyles. They were declarations. Because for decades, natural hair textures—kinks, coils, locs, braids—have been styled out, straightened down, or entirely omitted from red carpet beauty. This year, they weren’t just included. They were the main event.

And in the context of Black dandyism—where self-presentation has always been about more than appearance—the choice to wear natural hair on one of fashion’s most visible platforms wasn’t just bold. It was aligned. Grooming, after all, has always been part of the dandy’s toolkit. Not just the tailoring, but the twist-outs. The defined parts. The shine. The silhouette..

Hair as Legacy, Hair as Language

What this year proved—quietly, but unmistakably—is that beauty isn’t just about finishing a look. It’s about starting a conversation.

Black dandyism has always involved meticulous grooming: pomades, brushes, polished skin, and perfected lines. So it makes sense that the most authentic interpretations of the theme weren’t just stitched into lapels—they were braided, coiled, laid, and crowned.

There will be recaps. There will be best-dressed lists. But for those of us watching closely, the most resonant storytelling happened at the scalp, where hair became history, heritage, and high art all at once.

And that’s the kind of beauty legacy worth documenting.