All The Best Beauty & Grooming Moments From The 2025 Met Gala

Tonight, celebrities hit the steps of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art for fashion—and beauty’s—biggest night out. And this year, the Met Gala theme, Black Dandyism, nods to a style that existed even before the annual fundraiser itself (held for the first time in 1948). The theme, inspired by Monica Miller’s book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, was straight out of 1920s Harlem era, which turned the night into the Gala’s highest grossing fundraiser in history. To complement the deal, some of the most iconic beauty moments were present on this year’s carpet.

Harlem-born Teyana Taylor opened the red carpet with sideburns gelled into Josephine Baker-approved pin curls and brown, almost dried blood-like eyeliner. Soon after, well-groomed Co-Chair Pharrell Williams arrived in high-style with a low cut and gold fronts cracking through an ever-so-slight grin. Then, Diana Ross showed in a cascading white gown that still couldn’t overshadow her beauty: pinkish-purple lips, which matched her eyeshadow and blush, brushed jet black curls, and a crystal at the center of her forehead. 

For Andre3000, “the devil is in the details,” says his makeup artist Alexa Hernandez, prepping his skin with MAC’s Hyper Real Skincanvas Balm Cream. Co-Chair A$AP Rocky’s diamond-dressed teeth (which matched his nails) accented his finger-waved braids, but for Jeremy Pope, cornrows weren’t needed, cutting out a fade on the underbelly on his gel-waved look. The same couldn’t be said for Alicia Keys, whose ruby red headdress replaced her hair, similar to Lupita N’yongo’s black gem-encrusted brows. Cardi B’s regalia lied in martini green makeup: a simple, yet elegant classic. “It’s really important to look at Black beauty historically and see how sometimes the most simplistic makeup looks have still carried from history to now,” says her makeup artist Erika La Pearl, using classics like Aquaphor’s Healing Balm Stick and Lip Repair to prep her skin. Meanwhile, Regina King’s tornado-hit hair transformed into an unexpected hat, turning beauty into a new genre of fashion.

Cropped ‘dos were ever-present as well. See: the mini bobs on Tessa Thompson and Quinta Brunson. Simone Biles also saw this to be fitting. “We leaned into the idea of Black dandyism,” her hairstylist Brenton Diallo shares exclusively with ESSENCE. “We took inspiration from The Harlem Renaissance and wanted to pay tribute to Josephine Baker and her famous hair bang swirl,” he continues. To bring it all to life were a mix of k18 products such as the Astrolift Volume Spray and Molecular Repair Oil. Meanwhile, for Tems’s look, “we aimed for timeless elegance—hair that was soft, sleek, sultry, yet still playful,” says her hairstylist Ashanti Lation, sculpting it with SheaMoisture’s Coconut & Hibiscus Defining Styling Gel.

Then Tyla stunned with her blonde bouffant ‘do, a style Law Roach unexpectedly traded his signature black tresses for. Glowing skin didn’t hurt, either, thanks to the Halo Glow Liquid Filter from e.l.f.. “Law has a beautiful balance of masculine and feminine features which make him sort of a chameleon of fashion,” his makeup artist A. Love says. “I really love to play into that blurred line of beauty by keeping his skin soft and matte accompanied by a sculpted cheek.” Additionally, “I recently learned to use Vaseline as a makeup primer,” he said during the pre Met Gala Vaseline luncheon on Thursday.

From ultra short hair on Tessa Thompson to Janelle Monae’s optical illusionary beauty, here are all of our favorite moments from the red carpet.