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The brightest stars in Hollywood, music, sports and fashion hit the red carpet Monday for the Met Gala, the extravagant Manhattan fundraiser that this year spotlights the subversive style of Black dandyism.

The blockbuster night’s theme explores the sharply tailored dandy aesthetic and its rich, complicated history. It also celebrates the opening of a corresponding exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.

But for the fashionistas, the Met Gala — always the first Monday in May — is simply one of the world’s top red carpets with blinding star power.

Oscar-nominated actor Colman Domingo and Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton, two of the co-chairs of fashion’s marquee event, were among the early arrivals alongside gala supremo Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of Vogue.

Domingo paid tribute to the late Andre Leon Talley, Vogue’s first Black creative director and one of fashion’s towering figures, in a royal blue Valentino cape with a glittering white collar over a snazzy black and gold jacket and gray tweed trousers.

Hamilton meanwhile wowed in a sharp cream suit and matching backwards cap, diamonds glittering in his ears, as well as on his lapel, cuffs and hands.

And musician and designer Pharrell Williams, another co-chair, looked snappy in a short, pearl-encrusted white jacket and flared black tuxedo trousers.

Tailored suits, bejeweled brooches, canes and jaunty hats were de rigueur for the men.

Among the women in attendance, actor Teyana Taylor definitely understood the assignment, arriving in a black suit with red pinstripes and matching huge red coat, the back fully pleated and “Harlem Rose” embossed in the fabric.

Rapper Doechii wore a logo-heavy Louis Vuitton cream shorts suit with burgundy accents, a cigar dangling between her lips.

And actor Zendaya, always a huge hit at the gala, stunned in a slim white suit and dramatic brimmed hat — perhaps some bridal chic now that she is engaged to Tom Holland?

Last to arrive at the party was Rihanna, cradling her new baby bump in an all-black ensemble after revealing she was pregnant as the event began.

Her partner A$AP Rocky, a gala co-chair, confirmed the pregnancy on the carpet: “I’m glad everybody’s happy for us because we’re definitely happy.”

Former US vice president Kamala Harris skipped the red carpet, but attended the gala in an understated black and cream gown from Off-White.

‘New sense of importance’

The gala comes five years after the enormous anti-racist uprising of the Black Lives Matter movement, which pushed a number of cultural institutions in the United States to grapple with their representation of race and diversity.

This Met theme is years in the making but now coincides with Donald Trump’s recent efforts to quash institutional initiatives to promote diversity — a push to keep culture and history defined on the Republican president’s terms.

The Met Gala and its exhibit, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” promises a sharp contrast to that notion, a deep dive into Black dandyism from the 18th century to today.

“Obviously, this exhibition was planned many years ago, and we didn’t know what would be happening in the political arena, but it’s taken on a new sense of importance and purpose,” Wintour told AFP.

Subversion

Guest curator and Barnard professor Monica Miller’s book “Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity” was the Met’s inspiration.

Her book details how dandyism was a style imposed on Black men in 18th century Europe, when well-dressed “dandified” servants became a trend.

But Black men throughout history subverted the concept as a means of cultivating power, transforming aesthetic and elegance into a means of identity establishment and social mobility.

During the vibrant Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, men wore sharp suits and polished shoes as a show of defiance in racially segregated America.

“Superfine” is a rare Costume Institute exhibition to spotlight men and male fashion, and the first to focus on Black designers and artists.

The Met Gala was first organized in 1948 and for decades was reserved for New York high society — until Wintour transformed the party into a high-profile catwalk for the rich and famous in the 1990s.

It remains a fundraiser for the Costume Institute. The famed Manhattan museum said Monday it expected to rake in $31 million this year.

Anna Ryder Richardson, the owner of her own zoo, has taken a different course in her life than the one she had before, a name that has changed living room design throughout the UK.

Following her time as the host of a classic 90s show that transformed the nation’s living rooms, Anna Ryder Richardson has been on a weird and wild journey since Changing Rooms came to an end in 2004.

The interior design icon, Ryder Richardson lit up screens alongside Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen in the BBC reality show that ran for 10 seasons.

She founded her own interior design business in 1996, earning her first major TV success with her own design segment on GMTV, where she first discovered her passion for design while working in a children’s interior shop.

Prior to becoming one of the principal designers Changing Rooms, she would establish a friendship with Ainsley Harriot, a celebrity chef, who would introduce her to some producers.

When the show finished in 2004 Anna went on to appear in I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here in 2007 and became the sixth person to leave the jungle.

In addition to the jungle, Anna would also learn about wildlife when she conceived the idea of Manor Wildlife Park, a zoo in rural Pembrokeshire.

The designer bought and transformed the zoo alongside her ex-husband in 2008. She even documented her incredible mission to transform the site back into a Welsh tourist hotspot for the TV series Chaos at The Zoo.

The zoo has undergone significant renovations under their leadership, including the construction of a $ 300,000 rhino house and the introduction of new lion, zebra, and parrot species.

Owning the zoo was never plain sailing for the couple and caused various strains in their relationship. Sadly, they divorced in 2017, speaking to the Mail Online that “stresses and strains and expense of running our wildlife park have destroyed our marriage”.

Soon after their split, when they began to fight protracted legal battles for ownership, which she termed a “horrid limbo,” the rift emerged.

Speaking on the ‘How To Be 60’ podcast, the 61-year-old told Loose Women anchor Kaye Adams: “I am enjoying a bit of celibacy, to be honest… but we’ve dived straight in there, haven’t we? I’m officially still married for another few weeks.

“I believe it was probably the worst time.” Actually, it has been going on for a very long time. Has my time been wasted? Despite how I appear to be, I still have control and limbo, and I don’t really live my life. “

Ryder Richardson resuming her role as zoo manager in October 2024, it appears to have settled the dispute.

Although it wasn’t easy for Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash to invite cameras into their home to host their BBC series, a source reports that they are now turning to therapy to repair the marriage’s splits.

When Stacey Solomon and Joe Swash signed up to let cameras into their lives for BBC fly-on-the-wall series, Stacey & Joe: Full House, they might not have envisaged that one of the biggest projects they’d tackle – in front of millions of viewers, would be the cracks in their own relationship.

As the series continues, the pair, who tied the knot in 2022, reveal they’ve turned to marriage therapy to keep their relationship on track. And a source has told OK! that Stacey and Joe perhaps underplayed what a big step it would be, inviting cameras in for every tricky moment.

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They underestimated how challenging it would be to conduct this reality show, and moving cameras around and watching it back wasn’t always easy. They won’t deny that their relationship has been difficult due to the pressures of all the children, they said.

The source adds that they are pleased that they made an open letter about couple therapy. They are receiving therapy because they are in love and never want to end their relationship.

They both realize therapy is the best way to improve their relationship and address their issues, saying, “Yes, there have been ups and downs and it’s been quite a rollercoaster.”

For DIY guru Stacey, 34, and former EastEnder Joe, 42, who have five children – Zachary, 16, and Leighton, 12, from Stacey’s previous relationships, and Rex, four, Rose, two, and one-year-old Belle together (Joe also has a teenage son Harry, 16) – not counting the two dogs and four ducks, life at Pickle Cottage is undoubtedly full-on.

And they’ve acknowledged that couples’ therapy has been crucial to maintaining their relationship. They sit down for a heart-to-heart with a counselor and reveal openly about the challenges they face on the show.

Stacey explains that Joe is known for taking everything she says so personally, and that he only spends the minute trying to devote himself to my family. Then to sit here and hear the fact that all I hear is that I am a huge problem in Stacey’s perfect life, “he continues, clearly feeling misunderstood.”

Stacey candidly responds, “I would say this is our biggest issue in our entire relationship,” after hearing Joe’s point of view. Without you taking it personally, I can’t say anything because I’m attacking you as a whole.

Joe and Joe opened up about their relationship in a recent interview with The Times, saying, “We haven’t got all the answers. Our children behave similarly to everyone else’s when they tantrum. We argue, but in the end, it’s usually for the right reasons: we’re trying to figure out what’s best for our family and the kids.

He continued, “We aren’t trying to portray a glamorous lifestyle. We all make mistakes, and raising a family today is not easy. But you learn from it, accept your error, and move on.

Joe also opens up on-air about his experience living with undiagnosed ADHD until adulthood, which he says can affect everything from impulse shopping online – he’s a self-confessed TikTok and Instagram gadget addict – to how he handles stress at home.

“[It’s] part of the ADHD… swings and roundabouts… so I’ve had to order some more medication. I always knew there was something, I mean you probably can tell by my impulsive buys.”

And Stacey doesn’t always agree with her when she says, “I literally spend my life sorting people’s lives out then have to come home and sort my own life out,” “because Amazon has arrived at the door” (p.

Our source goes on to say that Joe occasionally feels like “a different child” to Stacey. She needs to calm him down and remind him to be assertive in the house, too because he frequently gets too excited.

She frequently feels forced to watch him, and it’s no secret that he frequently shops impulsively. She has a lot of kids to deal with and a lot of work to do, so it can be difficult.

The couple’s new series has enthralled fans, as they opened the doors to Pickle Cottage to peel back their real life, warts’n’all. Promoting it, Stacey and Joe were clear that they didn’t want to glamorise their relationship or pretend they had everything figured out – and they’ve stayed true to their word.

The show reveals exactly that, with everything from raw, unfiltered reactions to school GCSE results to Stacey’s sporadic but obvious annoyance at Joe, and Stacey claims they are “just a normal family doing our best.”

“In the end, you relax and think, ‘Oh well, so they saw us get the hump with each other, or they saw us do something wrong’. That’s probably the best thing we could show the world, because everything isn’t perfect,” says Stacey.

Stacey, who is adored by fans for her “tell it like it’s is” style, has previously stressed the value of constant communication in marriage, and the Sort Your Life Out host has always been vocal about how untidy life may be in comparison to what people might expect from her polished Instagram grid. She has a huge following based on her authenticity, whether it’s overflowing classrooms, disorderly school practices, or discussing mother guilt.

The couple are now keen to demonstrate that relationships, like homes, occasionally need some sorting out as life progresses in Stacey and Joe’s busy family home. Despite the well-known rows and tears, it also reveals how devoted these two have always been to one another.

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