This year’s theme for the fashion Oscars can be summed up in one word: Black. Co-host Pharrell Williams explains the deep meaning behind it.
Music producer Pharrell Williams is one of the co-chairs of this year’s Met Gala, taking place on May 5 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, widely known as the “fashion Oscars.” The 52-year-old reveals that the 2025 Met Gala will be “a very impactful, beautiful night” that celebrates “the color Black.”
Alongside the annual host, Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, 74, Williams is joined by actor Colman Domingo, 55, race car driver Lewis Hamilton, 40, rapper A$AP Rocky, 36, and basketball star LeBron James, 40, as co-chairs. In The Run-Through With Vogue podcast, he shares what fans can expect from the high-fashion event.
It will be a celebration of Black culture, declares the Happy chart-topper: “It’s going to be a very impactful, beautiful night where we celebrate the color Black. We celebrate the things associated with that color. We celebrate the mentality. We celebrate the hardship. We celebrate the progress and the success. And we celebrate the potential.”
He continues: “We see it in all different forms, right? From authors, architects, artists, academics, to athletes — everyone has a voice. But yes, that’s what the night is about. It’s like the best of the best.” This year’s Met Gala theme is therefore “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”, inspired by Monica L. Miller’s book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. It also aligns with the title of the new exhibition from the Costume Institute, which honors the Black dandy through history and highlights fashion as a means of expressing Black identity.
High Expectations for the Night of All Nights
Williams hopes the event will feel incredible and that the “power” behind the theme will be reflected in the photos of extravagantly styled stars on the museum steps — images that are seen around the world each year. “That’s what this night is going to be — the manifestation of using this platform to celebrate us and all our enthusiasts,” Williams says with conviction. “That means people who aren’t necessarily Black but are lovers of Black culture, lovers of the color Black, and lovers of everything related to Black and Brown.”
Williams has attended the Met Gala four times. Most recently in 2021, when he and his wife Helen Lasichanh, 44, wore cowboy-inspired ensembles designed by Chanel, in line with the theme “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” The look was shared by the fashion house on its Instagram page.
