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Tracee Ellis Ross is known for her statement-making style, and she didn’t disappoint at the 2025 Met Gala
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She appeared in a pink jumpsuit with red accents, down to the fabulous hat
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She also raved about her mom Diana Ross’ showstopping look earlier in the evening
Tracee Ellis Ross just made an eye-catching return to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the 2025 Met Gala.
The black-ish alum arrived at the Met in New York City on Monday, May 5, wearing a vibrant Marc Jacobs pink pantsuit with a voluminous silhouette. A large, hot pink sash wrapped around her waist, creating a larger-than-life bow around her back. Fitted over a white top, she wore a maroon blazer with a ruby red handkerchief in the breast pocket. On her head, she opted for a dusty-rose wide-brimmed hat.
“I feel like it’s animated joy and artistry,” the 52-year-old told Vogue’s La La Anthony on the red carpet. “The details kill me, like, I don’t know if you can see these pants,” she added while pulling on her waist.
As for the hat: “Steven Jones is a hat designer that I have been obsessed with. He made this for me and placed it on my head for me, I had chills all over my body.”
“It’s just a little look, La La,” she joked.
These “little looks” come to her naturally; her mom, Diana Ross, had arrived earlier in the night in a sparkling gown and a massive 18-foot feathered stole embroidered with the names of her family, that required six helpers to carry.
“What I explain to people is my mother stops time,” the actress said. “Obviously, it stops when you look at her and when she shows up somewhere like this because she never comes out. It’s a showstopper.”
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Tracee Ellis Ross attends the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 05, 2025 in New York City.
Related: See 50 of the Most Glamorous (and On-Theme!) Met Gala Outfits of All Time
In October, Vogue announced Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, A$AP Rocky, Pharrell Williams and Anna Wintour would be co-chairs for this year’s Met Gala, alongside LeBron James as honorary chair. The event, which is held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, is a fundraiser for The Costume Institute and spotlights the museum’s spring 2025 exhibition, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, which is the theme for the gala.
Curator in Charge Andrew Bolton shared that the exhibit, which is inspired by guest curator Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, explores “the Black dandy as both a concept and an identity signifier.”
The exhibit “presents a cultural and historical examination of Black style from the 18th century to the present through an exploration of the concept of dandyism,” according to a post on the museum’s Instagram.
The Met Gala’s dress code for this year is “Tailored for You,” a nod to the exhibition’s focus on menswear and suiting. The gala also has a star-studded host committee: Simone Biles and her husband, Jonathan Owens, as well as Doechii, Regina King, Spike Lee, Angel Reese and Usher.
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Ross last attended fashion’s biggest night in 2021. The actress wore an electric blue, wrap-style maxi dress from Balenciaga Couture for the evening’s theme, “In America: A Lexicon of Fashion.” Ross styled her hair in an angular, short bob and accessorized with diamond jewelry courtesy of Tiffany and Co.
Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty
Tracee Ellis Ross attends The 2021 Met Gala Celebrating “In America: A Lexicon Of Fashion” at Metropolitan Museum of Art on September 13, 2021 in New York City.
Related: What to Expect from the 2025 Met Gala: All About the Cochairs, Ones to Watch and The Theme, ‘Superfine: Tailoring Black Style’
On the carpet, Ross told Vogue’s broadcast host Keke Palmer the look was “giving a little bit of Mahogany.” Mahogany, a 1975 film starring Ross’ mother, Diana Ross, follows an aspiring fashion designer from Chicago. It is often considered one of Ross’s most iconic roles.
Also on the carpet, an AP reporter asked about the “vibe” of Ross’s look. To which she replied, “I’m a woman who wears what she wants!”
In 2019, the Girlfriends star made a statement with her Met Gala look. She wore a simple yet elegant black dress by Moschino. But what grabbed people’s attention was the gold picture frame she carried around her face while walking the carpet.
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Tracee Ellis Ross attends The 2019 Met Gala “Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion” at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2019 in New York City.
“RECLAIMING THE NARRATIVE ~ black camp,” Ross wrote in a May 7, 2019, Instagram post featuring a look at her outfit. “Black camp” is a reference to the year’s theme, “Camp: Notes on Fashion.”
She added: “thank you #lorraineogrady for existing and creating ‘art is.’” The “Art Is” movement began with Lorraine O’Grady, who framed people’s faces at the African American Day parade in Harlem in September 1983.
The theme for the Met Gala in 2018 was “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination.” For that evening, Ross wore a sparkly fuchsia gown with a belt at the waist. The Michael Kors look also featured an extra-long floor-length jacket.
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Tracee Ellis Ross attends the “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion & The Catholic Imagination” Costume Institute Gala at The Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 7, 2018 in New York City.
Related: Ayo Edebiri, Jon Batiste and More Suit Up with Vogue to Celebrate Upcoming Met Gala and Exhibit
Following the event, Ross appeared on Conan and talked about the inspiration behind her look. On Laetare Sunday, which is the fourth Sunday of lent, clergy wears rose vestments to “signify the coming joy,” according to Ross.
After host Conan O’Brien showed a picture of Ross’s 2018 Met Gala outfit, she exclaimed, “That is the coming joy.”
Related: Tracee Ellis Ross Pulls Off 3 Outfit Changes in 1 Day in N.Y.C. — See Her Impressive Transformations!
Earlier in the interview, Ross detailed the collaborative efforts that go into designing a Met Gala look.
“You don’t get a lot of choice,” she explained. “You go with a designer and the designer sorta chooses what you’re going to wear with your stylist and there’s all this hubbub and to-do.”
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The year prior marked Ross’ first solo invitation to the Met Gala. Previously, she attended with her mother in the ‘90s. For the May 1, 2017, event, she arrived in a royal blue frock with floral patterns. She paired the look with a pair of silver shoes. The dress came from Comme des Garçons, Rei Kawakubo’s fashion house that was being honored through the year’s theme.
Catch all the minute-by-minute fashion updates from the 2025 Met Gala red carpet right here!
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