The Met Gala is over, but dandyism isn't. Here's how to dress like a dandy in everyday life

NEW YORK (AP) — Michael Henry Adams had reached a fashion crossroads by the early 1970s: As bell bottoms and afros became the trend and the look of film figures like John Shaft and “Super Fly” became style prototypes, the teenager felt unrepresented.

But a previous trip to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, for its “Harlem On My Mind” exhibit, had already begun to lay down his fashion foundation.

“When I saw those photographs of elegant Harlemites promenading up and down Seventh Avenue and Lennox Avenue ... the raccoon coats and fox coats, and spangled gowns, and bowler hats ... I thought, ‘Oh! There is another way for me to be authentically Black,’” recalled the New York-based cultural and architectural historian, now 69, of the fashionable splendor.

The style Adams would embrace had a name: dandyism. And dandyism was at the heart of Monday's Met Gala, where many of the world's most famous and influential tastemakers donned their luxury best to kick off the Met's “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibit. But Black dandyism isn't limited to expensive couture — it's displayed daily.

“It’s everywhere in the Black community, the notion of what a dandy is,” explained Adams, who was photographed for the “Superfine” catalog. “The ingeniousness and ingenuity and creativity of Black people, so far as fashion was concerned, it’s always been with us.”

As the menswear-focused exhibit — the Costume Institute's first to exclusively display Black designers — opens to the public Saturday, here are tips from dandies on embracing the style in everyday life.

Dandies say the key to a distinctive look first begins on the inside.

“Fashion’s a sense of personality. Two guys can go to the same store and get the same outfit and look totally different,” said Guy Wood, 62, the stylish co-owner of Harlem Haberdashery. Inspired by family members and dapper Harlem neighbors, he developed a knack for style early. “It’s confidence ... you walk in the room, and all the heads turn.”

Michael Andrew, a 42-year-old Atlanta-based style consultant, first delved into dandyism after being inspired by Fonzworth Bentley, most recognized as Sean “Diddy” Combs' often-photographed assistant and umbrella holder in the early 2000s. Bentley's colorful outfits and tailored outfits separated himself from the hip-hop era's prevalent baggy look.

“A lot of guys think that being a dandy is about being over the top,” said Andrew, who was photographed for Rose Callahan's 2013 book "I Am Dandy: The Return of the Elegant Gentleman.” “For me, dandyism is the highest form of taste with self-expression.”

The foundation of dandyism rests upon tenets such as bold colors and fine tailoring, but there’s no singular way to achieve the look. Each dandy creates their own unique style, often centered on specific elements. For Wood, who refers to crafting looks as making gumbo, it starts with suits.

“Wearing a suit, you just feel important,” said Wood, who often pairs them with brogue shoes of various bright colors. “We love well-tailored.”

James McFarland, an 80-year-old master tailor, says a dandy’s affinity for tailoring is easy to understand: “It’s very simple: we’re a visual world. When you wear something that’s fine tailored and it’s fitting you well, people look at that.”

Known as “Gentleman Jim,” McFarland was tutored by Orie Walls, the go-to Harlem-based tailor of the 1960s. McFarland says they crafted suits for nearly every famous Black male celebrity of the time, from Duke Ellington to Jackie Robinson to Muhammad Ali — as well as some of the era's most infamous characters, like gangsters Frank Lucas and Bumpy Johnson. He says wearing a suit “makes you feel better. You ever heard the term styling and profiling?”

While Adams, the historian, is drawn to bow ties, buck shoes and straw hats, Andrew says the beauty of dandyism is making it your own.

“Texture is the must-have when you start talking about dandyism — textures and patterns. The great point here is that dandies always have their thing. And so, for me, hats are my thing,” Andrew said, adding that small accessories, like stylish wool or cashmere socks and pocket squares, can easily elevate a look. “Now, it’s starting to become glasses. … Every dandy has the opportunity to utilize something.”

Wood says creativity is essential to becoming a dandy — not a high income.

“That’s a cheat code,” said Wood. “It is being creative … most of us don’t have a lot of money. You might go in your mom’s closet and (think), ‘Oh, that scarf is fly.’ You tie it around your neck and lay it over your shoulder. You just can’t be scared.”

Adams says while style and inspiration can go hand-in-hand, individuality should always be paramount.

“People should find their truth and aspire to look like themselves,” he said, noting he shops at a variety of stores, from the high-end Brooks Brothers to off-price and discount stores like Marshalls and K&G Fashion. “Part of the thing that made me rebel against looking like ‘Super Fly’ or ‘Shaft’ is I didn’t want to look like everybody else.”

Jacques Agbobly, a designer whose clothes are featured in the Met exhibit, agrees.

“There are people who would really just think it’s about the suit that you’re wearing and the top hat … but for me, and I think that’s what this exhibition does really fondly, is really putting together a group of amazing clothing that really redefines what dandyism is,” he said. For the Togo-born designer, “taking up space is a sort of open-ended thing in a way,” whether it's achieved through colors, silhouettes or fabric choices.

A general consensus among dandies is that society has embraced casualness, shunning the well-dressed looks of the past.

McFarland, the tailor, says his profession isn’t as admired or used in U.S. as it was years ago. He teaches fine tailoring as he has for decades, and is planning to start a podcast to discuss the craft and his adventures styling celebrities of his era.

“When I grew up, I wanted to look like the people in the neighborhood,” he said, explaining his mother couldn’t afford the clothes he wanted, leading him to tailoring. “Everybody, male and female, was dressed up.”

Andrew hopes that same stylish spirit of yesteryear can make a resurgence, believing appearance and pride work together.

“I would challenge or would encourage all of us, especially as Black people, to remember our history, to remember that we used to throw on our Sunday’s best,” he said. “We wanted to show up as the best versions of ourselves.”

The “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibit, which will run through October, is sure to introduce visitors to the most elevated forms of Black dandyism. But for Wood and fellow daily dandies, it’s just business as usual.

“The fact that the Met realizes that is a beautiful thing,” he said with a sly smile. “But we’ve been doing this forever and we really not paying attention to it. We just do it because we love it.”

This story has been corrected to report that the “Harlem On My Mind” exhibit was at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, not the Museum of Modern Art.

Follow Associated Press entertainment journalist Gary Gerard Hamilton at @GaryGHamilton on all his social media platforms.

Master tailor, Jim "Gentleman Jim" McFarland, poses for a portrait on Friday, May 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (Photo by Paul R. Giunta/Invision/AP)

Fashion designer/founder of Agbobly, Jacques Agbobly, poses for a portrait on Thursday, May 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Cultural and architectural historian Michael Henry Adams poses for a portrait on Thursday, May 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Style advisor, Michael Andrew, poses for a portrait on Friday, May 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (Photo by Paul R. Giunta/Invision/AP)

Entrepreneur and co-owner of Harlem Haberdashery, Guy Wood, poses for a portrait on Thursday, May 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Entrepreneur and co-owner of Harlem Haberdashery, Guy Wood, poses for a portrait on Thursday, May 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Cultural and architectural historian Michael Henry Adams poses for a portrait on Thursday, May 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Style advisor, Michael Andrew, poses for a portrait on Friday, May 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (Photo by Paul R. Giunta/Invision/AP)

Style advisor, Michael Andrew, poses for a portrait on Friday, May 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (Photo by Paul R. Giunta/Invision/AP)

Master tailor, Jim "Gentleman Jim" McFarland, poses for a portrait on Friday, May 2, 2025, in Atlanta. (Photo by Paul R. Giunta/Invision/AP)

Fashion designer/founder of Agbobly, Jacques Agbobly, poses for a portrait on Thursday, May 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Fashion designer/founder of Agbobly, Jacques Agbobly, poses for a portrait on Thursday, May 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Entrepreneur and co-owner of Harlem Haberdashery, Guy Wood, poses for a portrait on Thursday, May 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

Cultural and architectural historian Michael Henry Adams poses for a portrait on Thursday, May 1, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Gary Gerard Hamilton)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)