Janelle Monae attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Janelle Monae attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
This combination of photos shows Janelle Monae’s fashion outfits at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala across several years. (AP Photo)
Janelle Mon谩e embraces dandyism at the Met Gala with help from an Oscar winner and tequila diamond
Janelle Mon谩e embraced Black dandyism鈥檚 elegance at the Met Gala in an all-star collaboration with Oscar winner Paul Tazewell and designer Thom Browne, completing her look with a sparkling ethical diamond brooch from 1800 Tequila for a finishing touch.
Janelle Monae attends The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating the opening of the “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibition on Monday, May 5, 2025, in New York. (Photo by Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Janelle Mon谩e embraced Black dandyism鈥檚 elegance at the Met Gala in an all-star collaboration with Oscar winner Paul Tazewell and designer Thom Browne, completing her look with a sparkling ethical diamond brooch from 1800 Tequila for a finishing touch.
Known for turning heads with her gala looks, Mon谩e strutted the carpet in a black, red, and white pin-striped suit tailored to her frame with sharp, pointy shoulders. She topped the suit with a black top hat and wore a small black-and-gold clock over her left eye. She wore the tequila diamond brooch tucked beneath her outer jacket, ultimately revealing it on her tie 鈥 a bold statement honoring her ancestors and dandy-dressing family members while celebrating a more conscious approach to fashion jewelry.
Mon谩e said the ensemble she revealed Monday while celebrating a more conscious approach to fashion jewelry.
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鈥淚t felt like the right statement to make in fashion,鈥 the Grammy-nominated performer told The Associated Press in a recent interview before the gala. She felt like she was back in art school to do a group project with Tazewell and Browne, calling the collaboration 鈥渙ne of a kind.鈥
In March, Tazewell made history at the Oscars, becoming the first Browne gave Mon谩e her first suit when, she says, 鈥渘obody else would,鈥 and designed her 2023 Met Gala red carpet ensemble: an oversize half-black, half-white tweed suit worn over a hoop skirt that earned rave reviews.
鈥淛ust having all three of our minds together around this theme, it鈥檚 honestly the most exciting thing,鈥 Mon谩e said. 鈥淭he experience of us creating this look together, putting our heads together, getting excited and dreaming up whatever we wanted to dream has been the best part of it all.鈥
With carving its place in Met Gala history, Mon谩e found sentimental value in wearing the 1800 Tequila ethical diamond, a gem not mined from the earth, but crafted from the brand鈥檚 Cristalino tequila, with the brooch design inspired by the crystalline bottle.
鈥淜nowing the impact that traditional diamond mining has had on African nations, it felt important to me that this piece reflected a more conscious and considered approach to jewelry wearing,鈥 said Mon谩e, who is a part of the host committee alongside the likes of Simone Biles, Spike Lee, Ayo Edebiri and Andr茅 3000.
Mon谩e is one of the many leading Black dandyism into the fashion spotlight at the Met Gala, as the Metropolitan Museum of Art unveils its new costume exhibit, It marks the Met鈥檚 first show centered exclusively on Black designers and the first in more than two decades to spotlight menswear. It鈥檚 also a tribute to the rich legacy of dandyism, a style that has especially for those overlooked or misunderstood.
Mon谩e said she was in awe of the technology used to craft the diamond from tequila. The tequila was aged for 16 months in both new American and French oak barrels before being finished in port wine casks for an additional six months.
鈥淚t gives a rare brilliance and shine,鈥 she said. 鈥淚鈥檓 future focused, and I feel like this should be the future of diamond making. Something that鈥檚 more ethical. Something that鈥檚 safe to wear.鈥
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