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It’s nearly impossible to discuss the Black dandy without thinking about Harlem. The Manhattan neighborhood is synonymous with Black style, and remains an area that’s central to the Black identity. It makes sense then, that the 2025 Met Gala drew on Harlem in many ways—from A$AP Rocky’s cover shoot to its annual Pre-Met party to the year’s musical performance.
For his take on “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” Baz Luhrmann took us back to 125th Street during the Harlem Renaissance, where a poem by Coleman Domingo led into Usher’s opening act. The crowd was grooving by the time the night’s headliner, none other than Stevie Wonder, performed a host of hits. A once in a lifetime trio, for sure—though it was the choir and orchestra that rooted the entire show.
The 20-person chorus warmly welcomed gala-goers to the red carpet with a stirring a capella rendition of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” and, in the Great Hall once dinner started, were joined by the Matt Jones Orchestra to continue the tunes before the Grammy-winners hit the stage. Dressed to the nines in elegant black suits, it was clear that the performance paid homage to the Black dandy in all its forms.
“Their wardrobe is all very uniform; they’re all in tails because they’re setting the gala mood,” Vogue contributing fashion editor Max Ortega said of Luhrmann’s vision, which leaned into hair as a point of uniqueness that showcased the individual choices a dandy makes for added flair.
To bring these hair looks to life, Luhrmann and Ortega tapped Dre Demry-Sanders, the celebrity hairstylist behind the Met Museum Catalogue of ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.’ “We’re really excited to have [her],” Ortega noted, crediting Demry-Sanders’ direction for the hair looks behind the entire choir and orchestra. “Every time I show [the performers] her work, everybody just gets so excited, so that’s pretty cool.”
Drawing upon many references—from Monica L. Miller’s Slaves to Fashion to the portraits in the exhibit—Demry-Sanders sought to modernize Renaissance-era styles. “[That] was a time of conks and relaxers, and obviously we don’t have those anymore, so I’m recreating the style with natural hair,” she says, crafting shapes with natural texture. “Back then, even if their hair was relaxed, the relaxer still had a bit of texture in it, so that’s my focus here, to pay homage to that, but also homage to what we’re doing with textured hair now.” With shaping being the main focus, she turned to Bumble and Bumble’s arsenal of products to sculpt and mold the hair to precision.
“Because natural hair is easier manipulated when damp,” Demry-Sanders applied a bit of Curl Defining Hair Mousse or Curl Defining Styling Cream and water before detangling. “Whatever is going to soften the hair to make the detangling the least painful as possible, but the quickest,” she says. While working through the performer’s natural curls and coils, the stylist starts perfecting the shape: “I don’t want a piece out of place.” Once the texture is set, a few looks received a statement-making clean part an inch away from the temple. To ensure these parts stayed “locked and loaded” it was the Sumogel Hi-Hold Styling Gel to the rescue—laying the hair down with smooth shine. The Holding Hairspray is what cemented the hair in place. “It’s a liquid form that I feel is better than aerosol because it’s concentrated, so it’s going to get that hardness that we want.”
The idea, of course, was to accentuate the wearer’s natural styles; those with curls got the shaping treatment, while others with short cuts received a shape up by a barber. “I want people to feel like themselves,” Demry-Sanders says. “Whatever it is to take the natural look to the next level, that’s how we’re going to do that. I want everyone to be in the same story, but different characters in that story.”
Makeup was “male grooming at its best”—the work of artist Michelle Clark courtesy of MAC Cosmetics. She kept skin simple and fresh. “It all starts with a bit of Fix+, some Serumizer on almost everybody because it works on all skin types,” she says, which creates a hydrating base for a bit of Studio Fix concealer and setting powder—awakening and evening the complexion to an undetectable finish.
When seeing the performance come to life, Dermy-Sanders also wanted attendees to be reminded of their ancestors. “[That’s] what the whole Met Gala is about like this year. We’re really giving the flowers to everybody that came before us, and I just want to continue that story through there.”
See All of the Celebrity Looks From the Met Gala 2025 Red Carpet:
Met Gala 2025: See Every Celebrity Arrival, Read the Latest Stories, and Get Exclusive Behind-the-Scenes Access Here
