Met Gala 2025 red carpet: pinstripes, capes and pouring rain – in pictures

Colman Domingo arrives in a sapphire cloak and golden mantel designed by Alessandro Michele, formerly of Gucci and now at the helm of Valentino.

The Sing Sing star sheds the cloak to reveal a joyfully pattern-clashing look of grids and polka dots.

Gigi Hadid’s golden gown is custom Miu Miu, inspired by the US fashion designer and costumer Zelda Wynn Valdes, who created the tight tux and tails worn by Playboy bunny waitresses.

Whoopi Goldberg’s finger caps are apparently because she ‘couldn’t get a manicure’ – but the thimble-style accessories could just as easily be a nod to the hours of stitching that no doubt went into this look by New York’s most playful tailor, Thom Browne.

In an electric blue bubble dress with an ultra-long train, Olympic gymnast and host committee member Simone Biles says her job this year is to ‘just show up, have a good time, wear a beautiful fit, and then just walk the carpet’. Her husband Jonathan Owens matches the look with a large blue crystal brooch, offsetting his white tuxedo with fringe-hemmed trousers.

Inspired by a Kim Novak look from The Legend of Lylah Clare, Sydney Sweeney wears a fringe-shouldered gown by Miu Miu.

Not exactly on theme but elegant nonetheless, Pamela Anderson sports minimal makeup, a brand new bob and a heavily padded, heavily sequinned gown by Tory Burch.

Walton Goggins of White Lotus arrives in a twirl-worthy skirt and deconstructed coat by Thom Browne.

Zendaya’s all-white take on the zoot suit, a lavish look worn in Harlem’s dance halls from the mid-1930s. This one is by Pharrell Williams, the men’s creative director at Louis Vuitton.

Speaking of Pharrell, the man himself wears a double-breasted, pearl-embellished tuxedo jacket of his own making, with his wife Helen Lasichanh also in Louis Vuitton.

Tracee Ellis Ross in a tonal pink custom Marc Jacobs suit. She told Vogue she got shivers when milliner Stephen Jones placed his hat on her head.

Serena Williams’ arrival, with former British Vogue editor Edward Enninful, sparks screams from the paparazzi. It took two helpers to get her tourmaline train coat, designed by outdoor wear label Moncler, up the stairs.

Demi Moore is on theme in a black and white gown by Thom Browne resembling a necktie.

Alicia Keys in a pinstriped Moncler suit by Edward Enninful – the duvet-esque stole is perhaps not surprising given that the brand is mostly known for its puffer jackets.

Sabrina Carpenter attributes her lack of trousers to Pharrell Williams, who refused to make them given her diminutive stature. That didn’t stop him adding elongated tux tails to her coffee-coloured and tightly tailored jacket.

Aimee Lou Wood, who said she was terrified to turn up to her first Met Gala, arrives with Patrick Schwarzenegger. She’s wearing UK designer Pri Ahluwalia – with flowers blooming from her socks – while Schwarzenegger’s yolk yellow shirt and pinstriped suit is custom Balmain.

Ayo Edibiri in a white shirt turned gown, dripping in red crystals, by Ferragamo’s creative director Maximilian Davis. Edibiri told Vogue that Davis is ‘Black and part of the diaspora’.

Priyanka Chopra Jonas dons a dotty custom Balmain look designed by Olivier Rousteing.

In a fresh mint green suit by Chanel, Lupita Nyong’o accessorises with one of the house’s signature camellias.

‘I’ve just been inspired by the 80s,’ Doja Cat says of her custom Marc Jacobs look and a turned-up Tina Turner hairdo. Jacobs told Vogue: ‘Our goal is always to please who we’re dressing.’ Mission accomplished.

Damson Idris finds a creative way to keep dry,arriving in a motorcycle helmet and white parachute jumpsuit over a golden-chequered blood-red suit by Tommy Hilfiger, with ultra-wide flares and matching boots.

Harlem tailor Dapper Dan, renowned for his bootleg, ultra-branded suits, told Vogue this event was the most important moment of his career. Instead of a logo, this zoot suit is printed with a sankofa symbol, a tribute to the Harlem renaissance and the idea that reflecting on the past helps you move forward into a successful future.

Wearing custom Valentino, US sprinter Sha’Carri Richardson shows off Flo-Jo-esque nails by Angie Aguirre, who described the stiletto-shaped style, entailing different adornments for each nail, as ‘a garden on a finger’.

Mary J Blige’s golden ghost of a fedora is by Stephen Jones. She wears it with a cream-coloured Stella McCartney three-piece suit (four-piece, if you count the brassiere). She told Vogue it had been a while since she had come to the Met Gala because she was usually not invited.

Lizzo debuts a platinum blond hairdo, accessorising her corseted black and white tuxedo gown with an unlit cigarette in a long holder.

In an impressive bit of product placement, André 3000 released a surprise piano project – ‘7 piano pieces’ – shortly before his arrival at the gala with a baby grand strapped to his back. The piano is a three-quarter sized model made of foam by the design studio Pink Sparrow. Note also the drawstring ‘trashbag’ bag.

In another bit of musical product placement, Pink Pony Club singer Chappell Roan wears a crystal and patchwork fuchsia suit.

Quinta Brunson’s pinstripes were constructed in crystals by Sergio Hudson. She told Vogue the look was inspired by Josephine Baker. Hudson has been busy lately – he dressed 16 people for this year’s Met Gala.

In one of the night’s more subtle pinstripes, The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White told Vogue his Louis Vuitton suit ‘got snugger and snugger’ as the outfit came together.

Back when tailor Dapper Dan got his start, this kind of monogrammed suiting was not authorised by the brands it referenced. But rapper Doechii’s version was custom-made by Louis Vuitton.

Late Vogue editor-at-large André Leon Talley’s presence looms large over this year’s blue carpet, seen in the abundance of capes and cocktail accessories. Lauryn Hill’s undulating, butter yellow version is a particularly dramatic take on the cape.

FKA Twigs flutters in a feathered flapper dress by British designer Wales Bonner.

Monica L Miller’s book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity inspired both the exhibition and the gala’s theme. Here she wears a capelet by Grace Wales Bonner. The striped shell embellishment harks back to one of the garments by the menswear designer that is featured in the exhibition, a 2015 look made the year after she graduated from Central Saint Martins.

Rosalía’s minimalist custom Balmain gown is very literally modelled on a mannequin.

Shakira goes full princess in custom Prabal Gurung, with a crushed satin cloak that’s heavily reminiscent of André Leon Talley.

New York’s most visible Nicks fan Spike Lee arrives in a cap referencing his beloved team.

Madonna is a late arrival, in a subdued (for her) Haider Ackermann suit. She’s one of several guests who accessorised with cigarettes and cigars. Good thing this one isn’t lit, because those Desperately Seeking Susan mesh gloves look slightly flammable.

A$AP Rocky launched his fashion label AWGE last year. His heavily accessorised look – complete with a crystal-studded umbrella – is from that brand. ‘I really wanted to give it a bit of Harlem Nights,’ he told Vogue.

Fedoras, like this one worn by actor LaKeith Stanfield, are one of the night’s standout trends.

Thom Browne is one of the night’s most popular designers, covering Zoe Saldana in self-covered buttons.

Janelle Monae brings new meaning to the phrase it’s hip to be square in a custom Browne look, made in collaboration with Wicked costume designer Paul Tazewell.

Still not quite over her Wicked ways, Cynthia Erivo in custom Givenchy.

Halle Berry’s take on stripes is to place them very, very strategically.

Instead of a bag, designer Olivier Rousteing carries a solid metal Balmain-branded sewing machine.

The always fashionably late Rihanna is one of the last to arrive, following well behind her husband A$AP Rocky. She uses her pinstriped outfit as a pregnancy announcement, with a bustle offsetting her bump.