The Carpet Is Great, but the 2025 Met Gala Vogue Livestream Is Where It's At
“I’m so glad you came to chat,” host LaLa Anthony told Nicole Kidman. “Of course,” cinema’s first lady responded. “It’s the Vogue livestream!” IKTR!
“What we doing in this dancery tonight on these steps?” Teyana Taylor asked Mary J. Blige about the 2025 Met Gala. “We just wearing clothes and shit,” Blige expertly responded.
One of the big problems — and mind you, it’s not a bad problem to have — when it comes to covering the Met Gala is finding an entry point. Do you focus on the biggest names that they corralled (Diana Ross! Stevie Wonder! Lauryn Hill!)? Do you focus on the theme — and who interpreted it best (Imaan Hammam! André 3000! Tessa Thompson!)? Do you focus on the homages (Tessa Thompson to André Leon Talley! Jeremy O. Harris to Beau Brummell! Kim Kardashian to… Countess Luann!)? Do you focus on who looked like a more elevated version of their usual red carpet selves (Sarah Snook! Tyler Perry! Joey King!)? Or who just served high-tiered levels of c*nt (Anne Hathaway! Nicole Kidman! Charli XCX!)? Do you focus on who flopped (Shakira! Gayle King! Joe Burrow!)?
Or, are you like me, and do you focus on the Vogue livestream. “I’m so glad you came to chat,” host LaLa Anthony told Nicole Kidman. “Of course,” cinema’s first lady responded. “It’s the Vogue livestream!” IKTR!
The 2-hour and 47-minute livestream, which was able to do what Francis Ford Coppola could not with Megalopolis, was compelling from start to finish, not just because of the star power amassed on screen, but because of the camera’s unrelenting gaze at the incredibly coordinated effort to move hundreds of guests through a traffic pattern, some of whom just want to get from point A to point B, and others who want to linger for as long as possible, sopping up every moment of unfettered attention. The stream is effectively riddled with unplanned, completely of-the-moment material, the kind that would be edited out of any other broadcast, and it’s because of this stream alone that we’re given the closest glimpse at what really goes on at the Met Gala.
You get Lorde giving a lesson in posing in the most girl, so confusing of ways.
You get Emma Chamberlain clunkily plugging her [checks notes] eBay sponsorship (one of the sponsors of the livestream, wouldn’t ya know!).
You get to witness the choreography of moving Diana Ross’s 18-foot train up the gala stairs.
You get to witness LaLa Anthony asking non-Black attendees how they interpreted the Superfine: Tailoring Black Style theme and their mostly bumbling, nonsensical responses (“It was wonderful working with the Chanel team because coming from Coco Chanel’s legacy and history, [this look] had everything to do with what we wanted to represent,” offered Jennie when asked how she interpreted and brought the theme to life).
The night kicked off with a performance of Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell's "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by the Black men's choir Silk and Sound. Anna Wintour and her co-chairs, Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky and Pharrell Williams stood at the base of the steps and watched on in delight at what was ostensibly the overture for the evening. It infused the night with purpose and with jubilation and made it clear that the celebration would not just be in sartorial form. It was a powerful, purposeful and effective way to kick off what truly cemented itself as an important moment in culture.
It’s here that I’ll pause to reflect on the guest list for a moment. This room covered so much Black excellence across so many fields. In addition to those mentioned above, you had Kamala Harris, Spike Lee, Whoopi Goldberg, Serena Williams, Rihanna, Halle Berry, Al Sharpton, Simone Biles, Dwyane Wade, Audra McDonald, Angela Bassett, André 3000, Mary J. Blige, Babyface, Jazmine Sullivan, Angel Reese, Questlove, Ciara, Dev Hynes, Myha'la Herrold, Precious Lee, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Sha'Carri Richardson, Colin Kaepernick, Ava DuVernay and Tyson Beckford among dozens of other notable Black attendees. You can criticize Vogue and Anna Wintour for a lot, but I think the guest list at this year’s gala truly displayed an emphasis on celebrating the theme through who was assembled in that room.
“I’ve been very inspired by seeing how much it means to the Black community and I think [this event] is putting a spotlight on amazing Black talent,” Anna Wintour told LaLa Anthony during the livestream.
“And at this moment in our political history, I think it’s incredibly important to stand next to the Black community, and I’m so looking forward to hearing what others have to say.”
Speaking of that — what is Black dandyism exactly? Vogue, throughout the livestream, trotted out pre-taped packages of interviews with attendees filmed in advance. “I think dandyism is about individuality,” Janelle Monae explained. “Dandyism means confidence to me,” Law Roach offered. “Somebody that celebrates living in a one-of-a-kind body and tailors everything to that body,” suggested Jean Baptiste. “When the dandy is Black, we get to see the dandy as a figure that really encapsulates a kind of matrix of identity: race, gender, class, sexuality and sometimes nation,” remarked Monica L. Miller, the co-curator of the evening alongside Andrew Bolton. Again, I think it worth tipping our hats to Vogue on doing the extra leg work to make this evening more than just a fashion parade and to help viewers contextualize the purpose and grandeur of the moment.
Some red carpet shout-outs:
Ayo Edebiri in Ferragamo!
Janelle Monae in Thom Browne!
Cole Escola in Christopher John Rogers!
Hunter Schafer in Prada!
Colman Domingo in Valentino!
Tracee Ellis Ross in Marc Jacobs!
Keke Palmer in Vera Wang!
Adrien Brody in Fear of God!
Khaby Lame in Boss!
Shaboozey in Robert Wun!
Kaytranada in Alexander McQueen!
FKA Twigs in Wales Bonner!
Laura Harrier in Gap Studio!
Demi Moore in Thom Browne!
Jodie Turner-Smith in Burberry!
Zendaya in Louis Vuitton!
Gigi Hadid in Miu Miu!
Ego Nwodim in Christopher John Rogers!
A lot to love here, but surely I missed a few. My apologies.
All in all, I think what could have been an ill-informed, not reading the room-esque nor meeting the moment affair, found its footing and stuck the landing from the outset. In a night where far more can go wrong than right and at a time when many are looking for holes to poke, this Met Gala proved to be not only a success, but a vibrant one, and one that really seized on the opportunity to celebrate and uplift the forebears of the theme. And, of equal importance, it gave us a satisfying denouement to the Rihanna v. Ciara feud of 2011.
And that alone is cause for celebration.