“Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” the much-anticipated spring exhibition at the Met Museum’s Costume Institute, presents a history of Black style through the lens of dandyism.

“Dandyism is about taking care of how you appear. It’s the right shoes, the right pocket square, the right tie, and most importantly, it’s about not caring what anyone else thinks,” said CFDA member Jeffrey Banks, who, after launching his menswear line in 1977, had his garments on display at the museum for the first time.

It’s a groundbreaking exhibition for the Met Museum in that all pieces in the exhibition were created by designers of color.

It emphasizes “the importance of sartorial expression to Black identity formation in the Atlantic diaspora and the ways Black designers have interpreted and reimagined this history,” according to the exhibition text.

And as the global African diaspora began to define dandyism and style through the influence of European and American clothes around them, their made its impressions and eventual appearances throughout the designs of our CFDA Members on the American runways.

In addition to Banks, garments on display includes designs from Polo Ralph Lauren men’s creative director James Jeter, LaQuan Smith, Tremaine Emory of Denim Tears, Raul Lopez, Willy Chavarria, Theophilio and Jacques Agbobly. It wouldn’t be complete without the works of the late and great Virgil Abloh, whose impact and loss still reverberate to this day.

In addition, designs by Jerry Lorenzo of Fear of God and Dapper Dan are exhibited alongside talents from past CFDA programs, including Telfar Clemens, Pia Davis of No Sesso, Ev Bravado and Téla D’Amore of Who Decides War, Kenneth Nicholson, Soull and Dynasty Ogun of L’Enchanteur, and Pyer Moss by Kerby Jean-Raymond.

André Leon Talley, the inimitable and late fashion editor, also served as a major touchstone for the exhibition with past garments and Louis Vuitton trunks on display.

The Met Gala’s dress code “Tailored for You” is a continuation of this celebration, and we can’t wait to see all the interpretations of this theme on the famed red carpet.