Given the theme of the 2025 Met Gala – “Tailored for You” – the abundance of riffs on suiting that we saw on last night’s red carpet hardly came as a surprise. Indeed, whether it was classic two pieces, tailcoats and tuxedos, or more figurative interpretations that fused the codes of gentlemanly tailoring with the resplendent glamour of ball gowns, tailoring took centre stage on the steps of The Met last night.
Read more: Met Gala 2025 Red Carpet
The crowning glory of a number of these looks, however, was to be found in the accessories, with attendees from Rihanna and Zendaya to Kim Kardashian and Jodie Turner-Smith collectively reviving the noble art of hat-wearing, with each sporting some pretty out-there headgear.
Granted, this, too, shouldn’t come as too great a surprise – after all, the red carpet is a native environment for directional millinery; and, more specific to the theme of the exhibition, it’s hard to picture an archetypal dandy without a foppish hat on their head. Though she may have been the last to turn up, Rihanna won last night’s hat game by a head’s length, sporting an elegantly crumpled, wide-brimmed number in svelte black felt, with Zendaya also opting for a similarly broad option from Louis Vuitton – although hers came in white fabric and a floppier fit, almost veering into haute sun hat territory.
Lewis Hamilton and Hunter Schafer both made convincing cases for the return of the slouchy beret, sporting ivory felt headpieces by Wales Bonner and Prada respectively, while Bad Bunny – also in Prada – opted for a subtly eccentric woven brown dixie cup hat. Subtlety clearly wasn’t on the agenda for Kim Kardashian, who complemented her vampish Chrome Hearts croc-leather ensemble with a supple black leather fedora, bringing a welcome dash of camp to temper the formality of the occasion. Granted, she wasn’t the only one to do so, with Tracee Ellis Ross turning in an equally outré banded fedora in milkshake pink.
Jennie Kim and Lupita Nyong’o paid homage to Coco Chanel’s status as one of the earliest recognised female dandies, sporting stiff boaters akin to the men’s hats that the pioneering designer famously reinterpreted for women during her early career as a hat-maker. Elsewhere, the historical gender-norm subverting legacy of millinery was paid homage to by Jodie Turner-Smith and Whoopi Goldberg, who both sported jaunty top hats typically associated with formal menswear. Indeed, wherever you looked at the 2025 Met Gala, there was headgear well worth tipping a hat to.
