Credit – Jamie McCarthy—Getty Images; Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images; Lexie Moreland—WWD/Getty Images; AFP/Getty Images
While the 2025 Met Gala is celebrating the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s new costume exhibit on Black Dandyism—spotlighting men’s fashion—several stars on the red carpet honored a female Black fashion icon, Josephine Baker, a dancer and civil rights activist who was the first Black woman to star in a major motion picture.
Just like Black dandies, Baker experimented with fashion and was not afraid to go bold. A postcard of Baker in a tuxedo and top hat is at Yale University’s Beinecke Library.
Abbott Elementary creator Quinta Brunson told Vogue that Baker inspired her to don a suit for the red carpet.
Brunson also paid homage to one of Baker’s signature hairstyles, a short cut with a single curl prominently on her forehead. Other stars boasted variations on that look at the Met Gala, including Met Gala co-chair A$AP Rocky, Dua Lipa, and tennis great Venus Williams.
“Josephine Baker was known as the Black Venus,” Williams said on the red carpet, explaining that she was trying to channel the dancer’s “elegance.”
Pop star Megan Thee Stallion specifically channelled Baker at the Met Gala, styling her hair in the long cone-shaped pony tail that the dancer sported in Havana, Cuba.
Gigi Hadid’s gold custom MiuMiu gown bore a striking resemblance to a Balmain dress that Baker once wore for a photoshoot for the Balmain fashion house in 1951.
The fact that Baker, who had relationships with both men and women, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture, was able to move seamlessly in fashion between menswear and womenswear is part of what has made her a queer style icon. Baker’s timeless influence was felt all over the 2025 Met Gala.
Write to Olivia B. Waxman at olivia.waxman@time.com.
