Singer and designer Pharrell Williams is among the co-chairs of New York’s next Met Gala, the museum has announced.
Williams and fellow co-chair Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton were on hand overnight to help the Metropolitan Museum of Art announce its upcoming spring exhibition that will be launched at the Met Gala on 5 May next year.
Rapper ASAP Rocky, and actor and playwright Colman Domingo will also co-chair fashion’s marquee event, overseen by Anna Wintour, editor-in-chief of Vogue.
Basketball legend LeBron James will serve as honorary chair at the star-studded event.
The blockbuster night and its partnering museum exhibition is titled Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, and will focus on the fashions of Black men and Black dandyism.
The theme is inspired by guest curator Monica Miller’s book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.
Dandyism was a style imposed on Black men in 18th century Europe, notes the Met, when well-dressed, “dandified” servants became a trend.
Regarded as the world’s most prestigious and glamorous fashion event, the Met Gala is an annual haute couture festival that fundraises for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in Manhattan.
The dress code for the Gala – usually tailored to the exhibition’s theme – will be announced early next year.
