CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 5/4/2025

In celebration of the 2025 Met Gala honoring Black style, 'Black Ivy'

"Style is about the freedom to be oneself, to authentically express oneself, and in doing so reject limitations imposed by others," Jason Jules writes in the classic Reel Art Press survey, Black Ivy: A Revolt in Style. "When it comes to this period and these clothes, it's often mistakenly argued that Black men appropriated this style out of a desire to be white, coming from a deep sense of inferiority. In reality, the urge to wear these clothes was in no small part borne of the desire to demonstrate that equality which had been so fiercely denied them in other ways. Countering racist preconceptions, the goal was to be recognized as at least equal to the rights they were fighting for, not only in the eyes of the American mainstream but throughout the world. Rather than a sign of conformity and compliance Black Ivy was a kind of battledress, a symbolic armor worn in the nonviolent pursuit of fundamental change. Making society treat them differently meant making the mainstream see them differently first. And they did."