Ayo Edebiri Is Daring Beauty At The Met Gala

Celebrities flock to the Metropolitan Museum of Art for the Met Gala every year. This year’s theme is “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” and actress Ayo Edebiri channeled her father and culture for the evening. 

The 27-year-old Emmy award-winning actress of The Bear and Opus took to the Met Gala in a wool-silk, floor-length shirt dress with a coral beaded plastron and a leather tailor coat. Ferragamo’s creative director, Maximillion Davis, designed everything. 

Edebiri, Davis, and her long-time stylist Danielle Goldberg accented her tailor ensemble with gold Cartier jewelry, including a 1997 pocket watch and a 1996 dog broach, adding an extra touch of elegance and her own personality to the outfit. 

As one of the celebrities on the Met Gala’s host committee, she was expected to be both outstanding and on theme. This will be her second year at the Met Gala, and she will be one of many hosting a grand Met Gala after-party.

The two were inspired by black dandyism and Edebiri’s father, Dele, whom she considers to be the most fashionable person she knows. 

Dandyism is being impeccably groomed and dressed, and black dandyism embraces bespoke tailoring and extravagant accessories. That’s what Davis wanted to evoke when working with Edebiri.

He described their thought process: “The look is a conversation between classic tailoring and modern Black style, a nod to the past and a bold step into the future.”

Specifically, Davis designed the coral beading across the shirt dress to evoke her father’s buba, a type of Nigerian upper clothing. 

Edebiri credits her upbringing with the many style icons she had to choose from. “I’m a Black American who’s half Bajan, half Nigerian, and grew up in church. I honestly think all of the men in my life are fashionable.” As she and Davis looked at photos of her dad in Nigerian attire.

“He’s one of the dandiest men I know, whether he’s power-clashing to go to the office or in traditional Edo clothes at the Emmys with me,” she told Vogue. “He got married to my mom in leather trousers and tuxedo tails, which is pretty iconic.”

The entire piece took several months to create, from concept to execution.