Looks like André 3000 is ready to shake it like a Polaroid picture.
After a 17-year break from attending the annual Met Gala, the rapper—he and Big Boi make up hip hop duo OutKast—returned to the famed steps of The Metropolitan Museum of Art May 5. This time, he wore a giant piano on his back—Pink Sparrow’s Steinway Model S baby grand piano backpack, to be exact—in an apparent nod to his new EP, 7 Piano Sketches, which he announced on Instagram minutes before hitting the red carpet. (See all the Met Gala 2025 looks here.)
“These piano sketches are improvisations,” he captioned the post. “To conjure them up, I spread my fingers out on the keys and randomly but with purpose move them around until I find something that feels good or interesting. If it feels really good I will try to repeat it. I cannot name which notes, keys or chords that I’m playing. I simply like the sound and mechanics of piano playing.”
The Atlanta-bred musician (born: André Lauren Benjamin) joins a host committee that also includes Ayo Edebiri, Janelle Monáe, Tyla, Angel Reese, Usher and Sha’Carri Richardson, among others, at the Met Gala, which honored the “Tailored for You” dress code (based off the Superfine: Tailoring Black Style exhibition).
And it’s not the first time the 49-year-old was just so fresh and so clean, clean at the yearly fundraiser.
When the musician attended back in 2008, he topped his white tuxedo with a straw fedora to ensure ain’t nobody dope as him.
At the time, the musician-slash-actor (he most recently appeared in 2023’s Showing Up) was saying hey ya to his preppy ready-to-wear line Benjamin Bixby.
The goal, he told New York magazine at the time, was to create a character “who’s kind of like your uncle, or your granddad, and he has a closet full of experiences and clothes, and he’s been around the world.”
The vibe was very deliberate, André sharing at a ComplexCon panel in 2017, “The reason I took that route was because hip-hop had this image of ‘we don’t wear these types of things’ and I knew we wore different clothes. So Benjamin Bixby was my personal way of trying to say, ‘This is how we do it.'”
He visited Italian factories, scoured fabric showrooms in Paris and sketched the designs himself.
“Unfortunately, I lost millions, to be honest,” he admitted of the self-funded effort. “It was an expensive lesson. But I can tell you, it was the best times, the best lessons in my life about my self and creating things.”
These days, he’s more focused on creating films rather than fashions, but his personal style is still cooler than being cool.
He loves “timeless” pieces, he detailed to New York, calling his looks a mix of “classic spontaneity” and “rebel gentleman.”
“There has to be something inventive about it,” he stressed of the ‘fits he puts together. “But not so inventive that it’s a turnoff. So that some of the greats, like Beau Brummell [an arbiter of British men’s fashion in the 19th century] or the Duke of Windsor, would nod and say, ‘Well done.’ Those guys killed it.”
Curious to see who else slayed at the 2025 Met Gala? Keep reading to see all the standout styles.
Rihanna
In custom Marc Jacobs.
A$AP Rocky
In custom Awge, Bvlgari jewelry and Briony Raymond umbrella.
Zendaya
In custom Louis Vuitton.
Serena Williams
In custom Moncler x EE72 by Edward Enninful and Fred Leighton jewelry.
Kim Kardashian
In custom Chrome Hearts.
Halle Berry
In LaQuan Smith.
Sabrina Carpenter
In custom Louis Vuitton.
Colman Domingo
In Valentino with Boucheron jewelry.
Kylie Jenner
In custom Ferragamo.
Cardi B
In Burberry.
Hailey Bieber
In custom Saint Laurent and Tiffany & Co. jewelry.
Cynthia Erivo
In custom Givenchy.
Kendall Jenner
In Torishéju.
Gigi Hadid
In custom Miu Miu.
Sydney Sweeney
In custom Miu Miu.
Zoe Saldaña
In Thom Browne.
Callum Turner & Dua Lipa
In custom Chanel.
Miley Cyrus
In Alaïa.
Shakira
In custom Prabal Gurung.
Nicole Kidman
In custom Balenciaga Couture and Wolford tights.
Chappell Roan
In a custom look sourced by Paul Tazewell.
Megan Thee Stallion
In custom Michael Kors Collection and Stuart Weitzman shoes.
Pamela Anderson
In Tory Burch.
Halle Bailey
In Coach.
Charli XCX
In custom Ann Demeulemeester.
Doja Cat
In custom Marc Jacobs and Wolford tights.
Anne Hathaway
In Carolina Herrera.
Diana Ross
In Ugo Mozie.
Lorde
In Thom Browne.
Demi Moore
In custom Thom Browne.
Check out E!’s Met Gala homepage for every must-see look from fashion’s biggest night and all the behind-the-scenes moments you might have missed. And watch E! News Tuesday, May 6, at 11 p.m. for a full 2025 Met Gala recap.
