Lewis Hamilton's 2025 Met Gala Look Is Loaded With Symbolism—Right Down to the Cufflinks
The Harlem Renaissance proved a jumping-off point for the look, 'especially Cab Calloway and the way he used clothing to express confidence, charm, and something entirely new,' McNeal says of the jazz singer and bandleader. The longtime Cotton Club performer wasn't the team's sole reference, though. They also turned to Barkley L. Hendricks's paintings, especially his striking white-on-white portraits, which featured Black subjects dressed in white before a white background. 'There's something really powerful about that kind of restraint—how it can say so much,' he adds.
Hamilton, Wales-Bonner, and McNeal also ensured that Hamilton's own identity was represented. 'Lewis really wanted there to be a reason and a story behind every detail,' McNeal says. Wales Bonner lined Hamilton's sash with cowrie shells—a protective talisman in African culture—while his ear cuffs, cufflinks, and Baobab-inspired brooches, (which Wales Bonner made in collaboration with SNOW Diamonds) contain garnets, a nod to his January birthday, amongst the white and amber emerald-cut diamonds. Even his cufflinks, shaped like the Whirligig African Daisy, were loaded with symbolism. '[They] felt like a beautiful metaphor for growth, memory, and African heritage,' McNeal says.
The British driver is no stranger to the Met Gala, attending for the first time in 2015 for 'China: Through the Looking Glass.' In recent years, he has taken to spotlighting Black talent and historical figures. In 2021, for 'In America: A Lexicon of Fashion,' he hosted a table of rising Black talent, including Theophilio's Edvin Thompson, Kenneth Nicholson, and Jason Rembert. Last year, he delivered one of his most powerful looks to date for 'Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,' where he paid homage to John Ystumllyn, who became the first Black gardener in Wales in the 18th century.
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