Inside Teyana Taylor’s Dandy Met Gala Look

More is more. More is more.

That s how we met.

That s ooh, I like, That s how we met.

[upbeat music]

My favorite lady in the whole wide world is

Ruth E. Carter

Oh, she s right here. I didn t even know.

You see how I talk about you behind your back?

[Ruth] You better not.

You see how I talk about you behind your back?

Oh my God. Hello darling.

Oh, hey, hey. Oh, we ve been on this journey.

Oh my God.

We ve been on this journey. I m so excited.

See, I did the red right.

I know.

You understand who is my collaborator?

Y all have to understand what s really happening here.

Bet you guys really excited.

You know what s crazy cause I don t mean to be this person.

I know she s probably gonna get shy,

but I get to say, you know, they was like, oh,

you know, who you you going with?

Yeah! Who you going with?

Who you going with?

I m like, Oh, you know my girl Ruth E. Carter.

You know, Oscar wearing, feel me like twice.

Let s be clear.

When they released the theme,

I knew exactly who I needed to reach out to

because I m already not a big dress girl.

So I m in suits even without it being a suit theme.

I relate to Harlem in so many ways.

I started with Spike Lee

and when I was in high school,

we come here and get our school clothes.

cause best school clothes were in New York.

So having this rose out of the concrete

has meaning for me too.

I m like honored that Teyana called me so long ago.

Like it was October.

Right, I didn t even have the job yet.

I didn t have an invite yet. Yeah.

I was just like- Yeah.

You were talking about Dionne Warwick.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And that dress.

And then you were like, yeah, I think I might host met Gala.

I was like, let s do a zoo suit.

You really getting down to the history of Dandyism

[Ruth] and Dapper Dan. Yeah.

[Teyana] You know, people like that.

It s almost like a moment that we were waiting on.

Think about it.

As we embarked on this, you know, journey in this country,

we were stripped of everything, stripped of our culture.

So, you know, a lot of times the only thing you had

is to like show it on your body.

My favorite detail is how we kind of teetered with

not going too far with the roses,

but having just enough for the identity part

of the diasporic identity

and not changing the theme to be too whimsical.

It was like a real fine balance.

We had about six fittings.

We have some ones I like to forget.

Right?

The one we were working out the cape,

we pleated this cape four times.

And even like little small details like the holster.

Yeah. Like, it s crazy

because we was trying to figure out how to make this stick.

[Ruth] Yes. I was like,

Ooh, I think we should do a little holster.

And the holster wound up being like the fire

and that was the last thing we did.

Let everybody have the skill of detail.

[Ruth] Sleepless nights, you know?

Exactly. Yeah, so it was just like

I was resting my little head at night

knowing that I was gonna be okay, you know

and trusting the process. I think that s all it s about.

Today y all gonna see us finesse cause we gotta try

and figure out this, duet situation.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I did have an idea.

Okay.

So we don t lose this moment.

Right. I think the easier thing

is gonna do is to already have it set and then

strip from there.

So I was thinking it s having a durag on, but tuck it.

Tuck it in or even I can pin it.

Yeah.

I could put it in like this so it ll look like the lining.

[Teyana] Exactly. And then-

[Teyana] Then I don t even have to pin it,

cause it, I think once you tie it, hug my body.

Okay, we ll try that.

But what I m also thinking is

that way, so when I have my little puss in boots hat.

Yeah. Yeah. Then she s still on,

but then it s just like a bam bam.

Yeah. I did the spats too,

so before you put the shoes on,

you had to put this up your leg, like a sock

and then put the shoe on and then we ll do that.

This is the vest and we made it so that

we are zipping it clothes on the side.

[Teyana] Vince is German in here too, right?

Yeah, it s on the cake.

Oh, she gave me one ring that I took off so fast.

She told me that price. I said Chad, I wanna take that over.

This is the Yurman chains. This is another Yurman chain.

Nice long, heavy one.

I keep decking you in the chin.

This is like a durag on steroids.

Always been a cape on my durag kind of girl.

To me, I think it s just iconic, you know?

I feel like why not put that little-

Little touch in there.

It s cute with the chevrons though. It s cute.

You don t want to narrow down there, do you?

I feel like-

Think it s a little too fluffy.

Right yeah, it s too fluffy.

Okay, I ll just narrow. I just think if you take,

you see that line right there?

Yup! You can really just take-

Half of that.

That middle panel. Yep.

Take these two off. Get rid of it.

Okay. Got you. Yeah. So it s just one.

Like this. Now it s giving like.

Almost there.

I love it. Love it, love it, love it.

Yes.

All right. I ll pull the cape up as we go around.

There we go.

I m sorry. I m too indulging my outfit. What d you say?

So this is the part where I tell everybody,

Hey, what y all think? The durag or No.

I think the durag is given.

Ooh ma, you missed the durag but it s cold.

[Teyana s Mom] I m on my way girl, we stuck in traffic.

That means your time management suck.

Traffic or not.

[Teyana s Mom] Never. Never, never.

You showed me a new side of you today.

[Teyana s Mom] Lemme see. Lemme see. Lemme see that back.

Lemme get my shoulders through.

[Teyana s Mom] Your phone is not your phone [indistinct].

You gotta like shimmy shoulders through.

Well we gonna go darker with the shoe Mark Jacobs.

[Teyana s Mom] Oh, not up. So Mark s doing em good

Spirit fingers.

But should the ankle be a little tighter, you think?

[Ruth] You mean?

Cause then we gonna get into a genie pan.

That s the real zoo suit shape. It s why-

[Teyana] You probably get mixed up with the red

[Ruth] once the red is out. Yeah!

Whiskey stick was definitely her idea.

You don t wanna be drunk on a job, you know?

But however, if I wasn t

this would ve definitely had some liquor in it.

I ain t gonna front Davon.

You make sure you bring a boom box.

So when I m walking on that car, but got.

[Teyana humming]

Some curtis blow.

I definitely think the durag was the finished touch.

The durag and the holster, the leather holster.

[Ruth] Beautiful. Insane.

I feel like that s what really brought her true like,

Rose in Harlem. Yep.

Like I could be on a Met Gala still with my durag on.

She might not need it. Might not need it.

But we covered it.

We bought us a little bamboo handle.

Teyana said she wanted a mirror inside,

so we put the mirror in there.

It was good to see it all come together

in the final fitting.

Two detailed people coming together is a literal movie.

Is iconic as she is that

even icons get in their heads and

and are overthinkers as well.

But overthinking is over caring, you know,

which is a great thing.

So I think seeing that process

and seeing her still care about it so much,

when you get to really walk around with like several Oscars

and still like, I don t think that worked out.

I m like, woo, girl,

[Ruth] It was fine. It s fine.

I don t even know what you talking about, you know.

So it s, it s really dope because it s like,

of course I m working my way up to be an icon one day,

but it s just like where I am,

I m still very passionate about what I do.

So to see others still passionate about what they do

just shows that you re always

leaning toward being a better version of yourself.

It s a big night and like four Met Culture

is [Teyana speaking gibberish] black this year,

you hear me from head to toe.

[Ruth] Yes. I love it.

It means I get to have my little, my little pimp walk.

You know? Like it is just, I get to sit in-

And play. This moment.

Yes!

What Absorb it.

Exactly. I m so excited to see Dapper Dan.

Like you don t even understand

how much he deserved his flowers, you know?

It is important for so many reasons.

Especially for New Yorkers, especially, especially Harlem.

I m not just saying that cause I m from Harlem.

[serene music]

it s been real.

We did it Ruth. We did it, we did it.

We did it all. We did it Ruth. We did it.

Ooh, it s a journey.

All I need to do right now is be in the park

calling on the phone. We did it Ruth.

And I love it.

Ugh. We did it.

Yeah, we re gonna, I m gonna shed a tear.

I know. I m gonna shed a tear.

Yes. Yeah because-

Oh my gosh. You so deserve it.

Thank you.

Aww! Thank you Ruthy.

Yep, yep, see.

See you at the MET.

We ll see you at the MET.