Keke Palmer is wearing a black and white Vera Wang look to the 2025 Met Gala that she says was an homage to Dorothy Dandridge
The actress shared she was inspired by the Oscar nominee because of “all the doors that she’s opened for us with fashion and beauty”
Palmer last attended the Met Gala in 2024, wearing a custom look by Marc Jacobs
Keke Palmer is back at the Met Gala with a meaningful ensemble.
The Baby, This Is Keke Palmer podcast host, 31, hit the red carpet in a white Vera Wang gown with black tailored pants underneath while ascending the steps at the Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 5.
The dress featured a halter top with a long train, and the skirt was open in the front to give the cameras a peek at her fitted trousers. Wearing a soft glam look, Palmer finished off her outfit with a pair of black peep toe heels and a feathered headpiece.
Speaking to red carpet livestream hosts La La Anthony, Teyana Taylor and Ego Nwodim, Palmer revealed that her outfit — which she described as “a little masculine with a feminine tribute” — was inspired by Dorothy Dandridge, the late musician and actress who became the first Black woman to receive an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the 1954 film Carmen Jones.
“I pretty much just wanted to inhabit the tailoring, but also the history of Black culture, fashion as a tool to enter spaces that often we’re not allowed,” Palmer said. “So that’s why I wanted to take the inspiration of Dorothy Dandridge. All the doors that she’s opened for us with fashion and beauty.”
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Keke Palmer attends the 2025 Met Gala.
Related: What to Expect from the 2025 Met Gala: All About the Cochairs, Ones to Watch and The Theme, ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’
The theme of this year’s Met Gala and the Met Museum’s simultaneous exhibition is “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style.” It’s inspired by guest curator Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, which explores “the Black dandy as both a concept and an identity signifier.”
The Met Gala’s dress code for 2025 is “Tailored for You,” a nod to the spring 2025 exhibition’s focus on menswear and suiting.
Vogue revealed in October that this year’s co-chairs would be Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams and Anna Wintour, alongside LeBron James as honorary chair. In addition to the chairs there is a also a starry host committee that includes Simone Biles and her husband, Jonathan Owens, Doechii, Regina King, Spike Lee, Usher and Angel Reese.
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Keke Palmer attends The 2024 Met Gala celebrating “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion” at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 6, 2024.
Related: Ayo Edebiri, Jon Batiste and More Suit Up with Vogue to Celebrate Upcoming Met Gala and Exhibit
Palmer also attended the gala in 2024 and delivered a stunning look for the “Garden of Time” dress code with the help of Marc Jacobs. Her gown featured layers of rose gold sequined fabric. She completed the look with a sky-high ponytail, pavé stud earrings and crystal-encrusted stiletto nails to match the dress.
“I am having my own reawakening and becoming a woman in my own right. I do feel like it’s funny how art imitates life in this way,” Palmer told Vanity Fair while getting ready for the 2024 gala.
She continued, “With the theme ’Sleeping Beauty: Reawakening Fashion,’ meshed with what’s actually happening in my life as a new mom and stepping into the year being 30, I do think both of those things in my life and what I’m trying to express, and what Marc is trying to express within the art, all align. And I hope that that’s also why he chose me to even be a part of what he’s doing this year with the Met.”
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The One of Them Days star also attended the Met Gala in 2023 shortly after giving birth to her and ex-boyfriend Darius Jackson’s son, Leodis Jackson. Reflecting on her 2023 attendance, the star also told Vanity Fair her attendance sparked her love of fashion.
“It reignited in me something that I think I really needed, which was just leaning into the fun that we can have with beauty. I found a strength and power in putting on my best looks and putting my best foot forward,” she said.
Related: See 50 of the Most Glamorous (and On-Theme!) Met Gala Outfits of All Time
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Keke Palmer at the Met Gala in 2023.
Related: ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’: The 2025 Met Gala Theme and Dress Code Explained
For her 2023 appearance, Palmer wore a strapless pastel pink, blue and white Sergio Hudson tweed gown. She completed the 2023 look with a pastel blue shawl, pink hoop earrings and a voluminous blowout with curls.
Palmer told Vogue correspondent La La Anthony — who also wore a Sergio Hudson design that night — that she was excited to attend after giving birth: “I’m just here to see everybody. I mean, this is gonna be a fun night.”
“I didn’t go to the last one, so this is my second time,” she added, referencing her 2021 Met Gala debut. “So it’s good to be back and just see what it’s giving, honey.”
Catch all the minute-by-minute fashion updates from the 2025 Met Gala red carpet right here!
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