Met Gala 2025: the same useless swagger—because only money matters; no future, no sustainability. Trump’s “Drill Baby Drill” becomes Wintour’s “Drill Baby Dance”
Americans, Masters of the World. At the Met Gala, Anna Wintour is Donald Trump’s reflection in fashion’s mirror
Whether they’re stuffing themselves at the Four Seasons or sealed in a van with the A/C blasting while spring is at its finest outside, Americans guzzle rather than indulge. Masters of the world: a caricature we’d love to capture in a sketch. The other night, the Met Gala; yesterday, images scattered across the planet like breadcrumbs instead of sugared almonds.
The Met Gala is an event that represents—indeed should summarize—the moment America is living: the age of “who cares,” of “take everything we can while we party.” Europe rages at Donald Trump, pinning Uncle Sam’s sins on this 78-year-old grandpa—but his supposed antagonist, Anna Wintour, is simply the enjoyable version of the same mood. “Drill Baby Drill” turns into “Drill Baby—and Dance.” Wintour professes to reject her president – yet she mirrors him. For Trump, only money counts; for Wintour, money counts when it buys bright clothes and small talks.
The Met Exhibition. Superfine, Tailoring Black Style — Cancel culture’s answer: “Tailored for You”
The Met’s website introduces Superfine, Tailoring Black Style, promising a historical survey of Black fashion—from the 1700s to today—through the lens of dandyism. The copy piles up concepts without pinning down its argument. It amplifies the tension between motion, scale, visitors’ experience. It invokes André Grenard Matswa, Congolese revolutionary and the first Sapeur of the 1920s, then lands on Iké Udé’s dandy expertise, and ends with images of “camaraderie among well styled Black men”.
The show reads like a case study about New York’s intellectual class. The Met Gala on Monday was an epitome of that American cultural elite bogged down in such a stupid thing they call cancel culture. The opening of an exhibition recalling some Black history. The legacy of an historical shame translated into a community: once marginalized, then cohesive, today dominating. The Metropolitan website reports that the gala dress code was “Tailored for You.” The concern of any controversy coils the message into nonsense—if no one understands, no one will be offended. The obvious facts remain: Anna Wintour is 75; Donald Trump, 78.
Black: Fashion’s Dirtiest Dye
Rich, famous, and heavily made-up Americans turned up almost entirely in black—dense, glossy black. Dyeing fabric black is among the most polluting color processes, demanding repeated baths and rinses so pigment penetrates the fibers, plus extra fixing and finishing baths. Fabrics were easy to spot in the crowd – silk taffeta, polyester lace, elastane-inflated volumes. Above all, silk—and its artificial counterpart, viscose, an extruded cellulose-based filament that sheds microplastics.
Commercially, houses rooted in tailoring—even Neapolitan ateliers once celebrated overseas—have been abandoning formal suits for relaxed cuts and natural fibers. The buzzword is Quiet Luxury. Financials show brands that embrace it—Hermès and Loro Piana, for instance—still growing despite a sluggish market. The Met’s show pointedly ignores any contemporary considerations.
No Sustainability? The Circus Applauds
The Met exhibition ducks every issue that truly matters to fashion—foremost, sustainability. Whether you mean responsible production, human respect, or simply a positive ethic, sustainability is the only topic the luxury sector can credibly champion today. When brands tell even a small true story, they win hearts. Without it, the Met’s media echo earns applause fit for a circus act. A show that tries to fold the still-raw question of Black humanity into a reverie of double-breasts, velvet, and makeup. It misses the point, it’s obvious – but the real question is why Black dandyism should be a focus today.
Carlo Mazzoni
