Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, which closed in October 2025 at The Costume Institute, presented a cultural and historical examination of Black dandyism over three centuries, tracing how style shaped Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora. The exhibition interpreted dandyism as both an aesthetic and a strategy for distinction and resistance, organizing garments, photographs, paintings, and decorative arts into twelve thematic sections—including Champion, Respectability, Heritage, and Cosmopolitanism—that revealed how self-presentation operated as a mode of creative and political agency within societies shaped by race, gender, class, and sexuality.

Monica served as Guest Curator for the exhibition, bringing her scholarly expertise to contextualize how Black communities transformed clothing into a powerful means of self-expression, from its origins in 18th-century Atlantic style cultures through the Harlem Renaissance and civil rights movement to contemporary hip-hop aesthetics and street fashion.

View the Met’s Superfine collection, including articles, interviews, exhibition tours, and other resources here: