Fresh off the Miami Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton raced to New York for the 2025 Met Gala, hitting the carpet with co-chairs Colman Domingo and Anna Wintour.
Hamilton has of course always nurtured a love for fashion. “I lived vicariously through magazines and music videos and films,” he said in his May Vogue cover story. “The people I looked up to—it was Muhammad Ali, it was Michael Jordan, it was Eddie Murphy in Beverly Hills Cop wearing that cool leather jacket. And then a little bit later I started to learn about Cab Calloway, James Baldwin, Nelson Mandela, and André Leon Talley. I saw how their image was so important to them, and how they presented themselves through fashion.”
For the 2025 Met Gala, Hamilton—something of a modern dandy himself—teamed up with Grace Wales Bonner for a thoughtful sartorial exploration of identity. Wales Bonner fashioned Hamilton an ivory suit with a cropped jacket, high-waisted trousers with a tuxedo stripe, coattails, and a white bow tie, with an embroidered ivory sash hanging from his waistband. A beret by Stephen Jones Millinery added a final flourish. “We brought together a range of influences, from Barkley L. Hendricks paintings to Black spiritual dressing and some of the brand’s craft signatures," Wales Bonner tells Vogue. "There are stories told through jewel adornments and special trims, with symbolism in baobab flower motifs and natural materials like cowrie shells and mother of pearl buttons.” The designer also cites Cab Calloway—specifically as he appeared in Harlem Nights—and André Leon Talley as prevailing influences.
Hamilton’s Met look has been in the works for months. “My stylist, Eric McNeal, and I have been thinking about how I’m going to turn up at the Met Gala,” Hamilton said in his Vogue cover story. “We’re both very thoughtful and intentional when it comes to fashion, and I hope that everyone else attending is compelled to really research and think deeply about what they’re wearing.” No detail went overlooked in the driver’s symbolism-heavy look. “We spent three months on research and two months bringing it to life. Nothing about it was rushed,” McNeal tells Vogue. “So much care went into this look. What makes it special is that it’s not just about fashion—it’s about meaning.”
The Harlem Renaissance proved a jumping-off point, “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. 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.
Hamilton, of course, 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,” paying homage to John Ystumllyn, who became the first Black gardener in Wales in the 18th century.
At the 2025 Met Gala, Hamilton once again used fashion to shine a light on past trailblazers.
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