The playwright Jeremy O. Harris, whose Slave Play received a record breaking number of Tony nominations and who is a 2025 Met Gala host committee member, wore Balmain and a one-of-a-kind ring by jeweler Benjamin Hawkins to the Met Gala tonight, an event celebrating the museum’s Costume Institute exhibit, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, inspired by curator Monica Miller’s 2009 book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity.
“There was lots of inspiration from the “Presence” section of the catalogue for the exhibition, where my essay is published,” O. Harris says. The Balmain, he says, is inspired by the silhouettes of the 19th century. The singular ring, created especially for him by Hawkins, began by looking at the caricatures of black dandies in the 19th century, images that became something of an obsession for the playwright (he is also the creative director of the Williamstown Theater Festival). “That was a jumping off point for Ben and I discussing the idea of a Fabergé egg.”
The ring is a 2.2-carat peach brown pear-shaped diamond in the center with a guilloché enamel base and an enameled portrait in a diamond frame. “The engraving under the enamel,” Hawkins tells T&C, “references Frederick Douglas’s cane and the portrait of Jeremy features him in 19th-century attire wearing a silver collar and a pearl earring.” Hawkins specializes in one-of-a-kind pieces combining classic techniques—including enamel work and uniquely cut diamonds—with modern designs. He explains that his process often begins with paintings and references before the pieces are made in his workshop in Clerkenwell. The storytelling that emerges from creating something special for someone specific is what drives his work.
Superfine: Tailoring Black Style opens to the public on May 10 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
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