Why the Zoot Suit Ruled the 2025 Met Gala

Last night, the 2025 Met Gala’s dress code encouraged guests to embrace a “Tailored for You” look. The theme’s focus on Black dandyism and tailoring saw a sea of fabulous suiting moments on the red carpet—but it was the historical zoot suit that truly dominated the evening. While stars like Dapper Dan, Zendaya, and Maluma embraced the look, you may find yourself wondering: What is a zoot suit? And why was it this year's most-favored design?

The zoot suit is best known for its signature silhouette, typically consisting of a thigh-length jacket with wide padded shoulders and wide-leg trousers (sometimes pleated) with tapered ankles. It was first prominently worn by Black men in Harlem in the 1930s, and later was embraced by working-class youths across the country—especially within Mexican, Filipino, and Japanese communities.

“It is considered the first uniquely American suit,” Clarissa Esguerra, a curator of costume and textiles at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, recently told the LA Times.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - MAY 05: Dapper Dan attends the 2025 Met Gala Celebrating "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 05, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by John Shearer/WireImage)Photo: Getty Images

While its distinctive style was actually adopted from the London “drape” suit in the 1930s—a design popularized by the Duke of Windsor, Edward VIII—the power-dressing shape developed deep roots on the streets of Harlem. As the zoot suit began to become popular in the 1940s, it also took on sociopolitical significance: During the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots in LA, for one, law enforcement officers began terrorizing Mexican American neighborhoods in search of “zoot-suiters,” whom they associated with rising crime rates. (One Los Angeles newspaper even printed a guide on how to “de-zoot” someone. )

Today, then, a reclamation of the zoot suit serves as a form of cultural pride, and “a freedom over the body,” as Jillian Hernandez, author of Aesthetics of Excess: The Art and Politics of Black and Latina Embodiment, told the LA Times. “If you think about braceros or the descendants of enslaved African Americans…they were seen as workers. When you wear this garment, it’s saying, I’m valuable—I’m more than a worker.”

There were zoot suits aplenty on the Met Gala red carpet last night. Dapper Dan—a true contemporary dandy—wore a black and white suit emblazoned with the Sankofa symbol, a mythical Ghanaian bird. In Louis Vuitton, Zendaya also paid homage to the zoot suit with her white three-piece style, designed by Pharrell Williams. Maluma also wore a vibrant Willy Chavarria number that paid tribute to Pachucos and their zoot suits. The thoughtful designs ruled the night—and were an intentional, tailored way to respect the exhibition's theme.

Below, more of the best zoot suits from the 2025 Met Gala.