Untitled (Self-Portrait, Philadelphia, PA), 1968
Barkley L. Hendricks
Jack Shainman Gallery
Every year, on the first Monday of May, celebrities and socialites don the finest fashion to walk the red carpet at the Met Gala, celebrating a major new exhibition at the Met Museum’s Costume Institute. Often, these outfits inspire obsession: In 2015, Rihanna’s outfit inspired a myriad of memes comparing her to a fried egg, and last year, South African pop star Tyla transformed into an hourglass, following 2024’s theme—“The Garden of Time”.
This year’s Met Gala theme is “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” which is also the title of a new exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute that will highlight menswear trends throughout Black American history. The gala will be co-hosted by Anna Wintour as well as notably fashionable Black male celebrities: actor Colman Domingo, Formula 1 driver Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, and Pharrell Williams.
Protective Covenants & Restrictions, 2018
Derek Fordjour
Nina Johnson
Untitled (Brighton), TBC
Tyler Mitchell
Artsy
The show nods to the longstanding tradition of Black dandyism. The term “dandy” dates back to 18th-century Europe and describes men, like the early 19th-century socialite Beau Brummell, who had a predilection for dressing well, partying, and enjoying art. Within Black communities, dandyism emerged during slavery (often referring to servants in wealthy households who were decked out in fashionable yet outdated outfits). It continued to evolve throughout the 20th century as a way to assimilate into Western society. Over time, dandyism came to mean more than assimilation, and adopters of this style used clothing to question gender norms with vibrant colors and well-fitting garments, like the zoot suits of the 1940s. Black dandyism became a vibe, not just a fashion style, and pioneers in fashion, visual art, and literature—from Sammy Davis Jr. to James Baldwin—began to become associated with the term.
Black dandies are known for their exuberant style and unfazed attitude, a defiant response to a society where Black people are marginalized and stereotyped. And today, it’s not only for men: Think of Janelle Monáe’s carefully cut coats with precisely placed patterns or the Thom Browne gown—designed to look like a traditional men’s button-up shirt with a black tie—that Doechii wore to the 2025 Grammy ceremony. Now, black dandyism has taken on an empowering meaning that allows its adopters to challenge prescribed societal norms through immaculate individual style, and its impact can be seen across creative fields from music, to theater, to photography.
Every year, the Met Gala is an opportunity for the worlds of fashion and celebrity to come together through outfits inspired by a single theme.This year, we’re expecting luxe, tailored tuxedos, custom-made jackets, and some sharp hats. But it is also a huge moment for the art world. As we look forward to the exhibition opening and the gala itself, we’ve rounded up contemporary artists who capture the aesthetic vision of Black dandyism.
Barkley Hendricks
B. 1945, Philadelphia. D. 2017, New London, Connecticut.
Known for: immaculate realist oil portraits representing Black pride at its most stylish
Steve, 1976
Barkley L. Hendricks
Whitney Museum of American Art
Born in Philadelphia in 1945, Barkley Hendricks worked across multiple media during his lifetime, though he primarily focused on painting and photography. He is best known for his realist oil portraits of Black figures in his community, which were recently the subject of a major survey at The Frick. Most of all, Hendricks is known for the attitude and swagger that his subjects exude, evoking the ethos of Black dandyism. Many of the figures in Hendricks’ paintings are shown in stylish outfits; one such piece, Steve (1976), shows a man dressed in white pants, a white trench coat, and gold-rimmed aviator sunglasses. The soft tailoring and unique touches make the outfit distinctively dandy. Another of Hendrick’s pieces, Bloke (2016), features a stylishly dressed young man: He wears a cotton candy colored suit, reminiscent of the matching ensembles worn by dandies in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As Antwaun Sargent, who curated The Frick show, told me: “Those choices are important, because he’s also using his styling and editing right on the canvas as a way to deepen our understanding of these people.”
Bisa Butler
B. 1973, City of Orange, New Jersey. Lives and works in South Orange, New Jersey.
Known for: exuberant quilted portraits that pay homage to Black history
Zakani, 2016
Bisa Butler
Richard Beavers Gallery
Soweto Style, 2016
Bisa Butler
Richard Beavers Gallery
Bisa Butler is celebrated for her brightly colored quilted portraits of Black people, often using reference photos from historical archives or family albums. Many of Butler’s pieces pay homage to themes of Black resilience and history. For example, the multimedia work Southside Sunday Morning (2018) shows five boys sporting patchworked suits, wing-tipped shoes, and multicolored fedoras. The figures are bathed in lush reds and greens; geometric-printed and textured fabrics add depth to the composition. Butler’s rendering of these adolescents is evocative of more contemporary versions of Black dandies—the piece’s protagonist dons a red, blue, and yellow suit jacket, and his entire outfit fits his body perfectly, making it feel like it was made for him. Custom-made pieces with distinctive patterns are considered hallmarks of dandyism. Contemporary fashion designer Dapper Dan, a modern-day dandy, has experimented with innovative structures and prints in his designs. Similarly, Butler’s works draw on the significance of distinctive fabric and personalization within Black communities, portraying her subjects in surprising color combinations, and always on their terms.
The artist’s first solo museum exhibition, “Bisa Butler: Portraits,” opened at the Katonah Museum of Art in Katonah, New York, in 2020, and institutions including the Newark Museum and the Toledo Museum of Art have acquired her works.
Audrey Lyall
B. 1956, San Francisco. Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Known for: fierce, fashion-inspired collages with wild patterning
P*ssy Facing the World , 2023
Audrey Lyall
New Image Art
Multimedia artist Audrey Lyall crafts creative collages that reference everything from fashion designs, to beauty rituals, to critical theory. Most of all, they are bold encapsulations of contemporary fashion culture.
“The way I draw the human figure is very much informed by fashion illustration techniques where the body gets elongated and poses are very exaggerated,” Lyall told Platform Art in an interview. “I love the elegance and drama of this drawing style. It's all about the attitude of the figure.” Such extravagant forms and innovative uses of patterns nod to the tradition of Black dandyism and its obsession with fashion.
Movin’ & Groovin’ (2022) is a diptych that depicts three figures rendered in this way— the multicolored subjects of the painting have stretched out torsos and limbs, and their skin is patchworked with carefully placed patterns. Lyall’s 12-by-9-inch piece Sherbet (2024) shows a collaged woman with large, pouting lips and multicolored skin. The proportions of the latter piece seem to be reminiscent of a drawing pulled from a designer’s sketchpad, and one eye of the figure looks like it was cut straight out of the pages of Vogue.
Lyall has had a solo exhibition at New Image Art and ERA gallery, and has shown her work at 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair with Superposition gallery.
Tyler Mitchell
B. 1995, Atlanta. Lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.
Known for: celebrity-approved shots that treasure the beauty in Black communities
Untitled (Topanga), 2018
Tyler Mitchell
Artsy Auctions
Many of Tyler Mitchell’s photographs evoke the themes of dandyism: In fact, curators at the Metropolitan Museum of Art thought that the 29-year-old artist’s oeuvre embodied the theme so well that they commissioned him to shoot the catalogue for the exhibit. Many of those pictures—which depict Spike Lee, Ayo Edebiri, Dapper Dan, and others—feature elements of dandyism, including strong suits and tailored outerwear. Indeed, many of Mitchell’s other pieces, like Untitled (Brighton) (2018), also speak to the photographer’s interest in fashion. This bold photograph depicts two figures wearing well-fitting black suits, which the viewer can see clearly. However, black fabric obscures the faces of the subjects in a way that’s evocative of René Magritte’s seminal work The Lovers (1928); Mitchell’s decision to highlight the subjects’ outfits—but not their faces—makes us question who the photo’s protagonists are and what their clothes reveal about them.
Mitchell was featured in the Artsy Vanguard in 2018 and is now represented by mega-gallery Gagosian.
Nick Cave
B. 1959, Fulton, Missouri. Lives and works in Chicago.
Known for: bombastic textile sculptures with a political edge
Soundsuit, 2009
Nick Cave
Jack Shainman Gallery
Soundsuit, 2011
Nick Cave
The Museum of Modern Art
The multi-disciplinary artist Nick Cave grew up in a family of creatives who fashioned clothing from discarded fabric—his aunts would often make patterns out of paper bags and produce a whole new outfit in one day. Since then, Cave has been fascinated with the ways that fabrics can lie across the body. Many of his textile works are meticulously constructed and reference fashion history. His “Soundsuits,” for example, present massive sculptural costumes that obscure the body head-to-toe with bright, unexpected materials, from handbags to fake fur. These sculptures’ bold, unapologetic vision of the human form pays homage to Black dandies’ fashion-forward swagger.
Cave’s practice was on view in a recent standout show that inaugurated Jack Shainman’s new space in New York. In that show, the wood panel work Grapht (2024) splices vintage metal serving trays and needlepoint on wood panels, giving the artwork a patterned appearance evocative of modern Black dandy style, like the quilt A$AP Rocky wore to the 2021 Met Gala.
Cornelius Annor
B. 1990, Accra. Lives and works in Accra.
Known for: joyful portraits of Black family life that take textiles seriously
Untitled, 2021
Cornelius Annor
Dumas Limbach
Cornelius Annor Ma Wo Nsa So Hem Wo Pa, 2023
Cornelius Annor
MARUANI MERCIER GALLERY
Cornelius Annor’s vibrant paintings showcase his personal family history and Ghanaian fashion. My Baby Doll (2023), for instance, is a tender depiction of a woman and a child; the woman wears an intricately patterned yellow, green, and white dress and a baby blue ribbon affixed to her hair. Cornelius Annor Ma Wo Nsa So Hem Wo Pa (2023) is also replete with colors and textures. The painting’s subjects dance to an unknown beat; they sport flared jeans, patterned tops, and lush afros; and they stand on top of a checked dance floor with collaged tiles. These figures’ ’70s outfits and visible love of partying make them feel like dandies.
Annor’s paintings have been shown internationally, including in a recent group show at Pearl Lam Galleries in Shanghai and a 2022 solo show in Belgium’s Maruani Mercier, which represents the artist in Europe, along with Venus Over Manhattan in the U.S.
Derek Fordjour
B. 1974, Memphis. Lives and works in New York City.
Known for: geometric, textured paintings in a soft palette that elevate contemporary Black life
No. 54, 2017
Derek Fordjour
Emily Friedman Fine Art
STRWMN, 2020
Derek Fordjour
Petzel Gallery
The Memphis-born artist Derek Fordjour has made a career creating multimedia works that combine geometric shapes, layered outfits, and patterned surfaces. Many of his works carefully portray typical rites of passage, in which his Black subjects play a starring role. Fordjour’s piece No. 54 (2017), for instance, uses oil pastel, charcoal, acrylic, cardboard, and carved newspaper mounted on canvas to create a dynamic tableau showing a proud athlete in profile as he looks off into the distance. Another work, STRWMN (2020), shows a man in a lavender bowling hat, a red sports coat, and heeled red shoes. The latter piece evokes the passionate spirit of a Black dandy, as the subject drips with a definitive and unique style. His clothing appears impeccably made, luxurious, and structured, much like many clothes that Black dandies throughout history have gravitated towards.
Derek Fordjour was featured in the Artsy Vanguard 2019, and his work is included in the collections of the Brooklyn Museum, Dallas Museum of Art, Guggenheim Museum, and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.
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