SCENE REPORT: Superfine
Report from the Met opening after the gala
Dear P,
On Thursday after live streaming the announcement of the Pope I took the train allllll the way uptown to the Met for the opening of the costume institute. I weaseled my way in as an unnamed plus one and was the worst dressed (brown silk dress low nude slingback heels) in what was undoubtedly one of the coolest rooms I’ve been in. This was the first time the Met held an opening of the costume institute the same week as the Gala and the attendees were dressed to the nines.
I woke up the next morning kicking myself for not going up to all the artists/curators/creators/thought leaders/fashion icons and asking to take their photo, flash on, on my knees for our nascent little newsletter, but alas I did not. So here’s a vibe report from the opening, some pictures furtively snapped.
The line to the entrance felt like a fashion show backstage. A guy in front of me vented about brands not paying more for collaborations and another chatted about her upcoming art exhibition in Philadelphia.
Monica Miller, queen of this year’s Gala, author of Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity and Chair of Barnard’s Africana Studies Department, began the event speaking about her work and the legacy of dandyism. She moderated a panel that included Professor Tanisha C. Ford, former Supreme creative director and founder of Denim Tears Tremaine Emory, and playwright, actor, and screenwriter Jeremy O. Harris.
The panelists spoke about the personal, intellectual, and cultural meanings of black dandyism to them. Ford and Emory showed exquisite archival photos of their own families. Ford’s family standing regally on her parents’ wedding day, her mother in a dress she sowed. Emory’s father in a Canadian tuxedo and beret. And Jeremy O. Harris talked about… Jeremy O. Harris. At one point O. Harris brought up his own New Yorker profile and forgot the name of Vinson Cunningham, the writer, even though “he was really dope and spent like a year with me.”
Andre Leon Talley loomed large over the whole exhibit - an entire gala dedicated to black dandyism just three years after his passing feels like cosmic injustice. In one slide, Emory told the story of a moment with Talley, when he wore a cotton flower boutonniere he made to wear to Marc Jacob’s 2019 wedding. Per Emory’s telling, Talley stopped in his tracks gazing at the object, and was moved when Emory pulled another from his pocket as a gift. Emory said that moment he felt their weight of their shared history as southerners, with living family members who were once sharecroppers, encapsulated the larger meaning of the pin.
The panelists talked about the culture of the South, of church clothes, of an uncle wearing a workman’s uniform Monday through Friday and then donning a sharp blue suit on Sunday, and I left thinking about how much dandyism is wrapped up with southern politics of respectability and visibility, and image making in the southern context—clothing as a signifier of wealth and class but also goodness.
As we made our way from the theatre to the exhibit, the crowd radiated ornamented elegance. Trains brushed marble, silk jackets caught the light and stiff hats casted sharp shadows.
There’s something special about being in the museum after dark—it feels equal parts exciting and illicit. The exhibit and hallway are illuminated with beams of overhead lighting, and all the galleries beyond are blanketed in shadow. At the reception rap music blared as party goers balanced canapés and glasses of wine.
Eventually we peeled ourselves away and exited into the night.
xx - B