Colman Domingo paid homage to fashion icon André Leon Talley before surprising everyone with a second look during Monday’s Met Gala.
The actor, who served as one of the evening’s co-chairs, arrived wearing a pleated royal blue Valentino cape with shimmering gold brocade over the shoulders and a bold Boucheron necklace layered on top.
Domingo’s flowing blue layer evoked the style of Vogue’s late editor-at-large, who often draped his towering 6-foot-6 figure in voluminous capes, robes and caftans.
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The ensemble resembled elements of Talley’s look for 2011’s Met Gala, which was dedicated to English fashion renegade Alexander McQueen.
After making a dramatic entrance, Domingo threw off his cape to reveal an explosion of monochrome textures and patterns.
His black and white windowpane jacket played off grey melange trousers, a taupe top with raised stripes and a white vest, which he accessorized with a polka dot scarf and matching brooch.
Domingo thanked Talley for the creative doors he opened for generations of Black men to follow while getting an early look at the Met’s “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style” exhibit on Saturday.
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“If I can point someone’s head back to history to understand how we got here, because it’s not just because I’m here,” he said in a video posted to the Met’s Instagram account. “It’s because André Leon Talley was here.”
“It’s because all these other artisans, people and human beings were here,” he added. “And so, it’s extraordinary. I think it’s going to be very impactful, and potent, and surprisingly, very emotional.”
Talley, who died in 2022, was Vogue’s first African-American male creative director and served as the magazine’s editor-at-large from 1998 to 2013.
While on the red carpet, Domingo went deeper into the history that inspired his attire.
“I started with this beautiful brocade, custom, Valentino that represents, I feel like I take inspiration from the Moors, I take inspiration from kings,” he told Entertainment Tonight.
“I took representation from, just the color, the color blue in particular. A free slave said once, ‘I wanted to save up some money so I can wear my finest blue super fine wool suit,’ so I wanted to wear the color blue. And also the color blue was my favorite color that my mother loved me in.”
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