Former Vice President Kamala Harris has graced many stages and red carpets throughout her decades of public service, but tonight marked a first: her debut at the Met Gala. She arrived at the annual event wearing a custom long-sleeved Off-White gown, a nod to the evening’s theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” and carrying a Roger Vivier Pilgrim Buckle bag. Harris attended with her husband and the former second gentleman, Doug Emhoff, who wore a Brunello Cucinelli tuxedo.
The accomplished politician has been mostly staying out of the spotlight since the 2024 presidential election, but the brand’s creative director IB Kamara wanted to highlight her resilience through the craftsmanship of the dress. “The precise simplicity of this black and cream look for Kamala D. Harris complements her own strength and confidence, two qualities I consider to be the core of dandyism,” he said in a statement.
This year’s Costume Institute exhibit, also titled “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” was influenced by Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. So when designing Harris’s dress, Kamara told Vogue, “Utilizing a mix of silk fabrications and precise tailoring, we added subtle flares, allowing her own dandyism to shine through—like the dramatic sleeve and elongated scarf.”
In her own statement to Vogue, Harris emphasized the importance of the Costume Institute and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, saying: “Art has always had a significant impact on not just culture, but also our policies and politics. Artistic expression—whether it’s dance, music, visual arts, or fashion—has a way of capturing the mood and language of the people without words. Art has the power to shape the conversation about where we are today and where we need to go.”
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