Today’s Big Story

Fashion’s Big Night

Can the Met Gala keep diversity in fashion in this political climate?

It’s the first Monday in May, and for those in stylish circles, it’s practicaly a holiday. Tonight, is the Met Gala, Vogue’s annual fundraising event for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute in New York City. But in recent years, it’s become a full-fledged pop cultural phenomenon arguably the most important red carpet of the year.

The gala’s theme is tied to the Costume Institute's latest exhibition, which this year is “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style”. It’s inspired by Monica L. Miller’s book Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, published in 2009. Vogue’s editor Anna Wintour (who oversees the gala every year), is joined by 2025’s celebrity co-chairs Pharrell Williams, Lewis Hamilton, Colman Domingo, A$AP Rocky and LeBron James.

This year's Met Gala dress code is “Tailored for You”—a reference to the suiting and menswear which features in the exhibition. In fact, this is the first Met Gala in more than two decades to focus exclusively on menswear, so we at Valet. are particularly interested in what people will be wearing on the red carpet. Expect lots of references from both the male and female guests to the role black style has played over the centuries, particularly in menswear.

The exhibit itself, which officially opens to the public tomorrow, is about how black men in America and Europe have used clothes as self-expression. This intellectually minded celebration of diversity lands at a moment when the Trump administration is pushing back robustly against both diversity and intellectualism. Or as The Guardian put it: “With popcorn-worthy dramatic timing, a show that honours America’s immigrants and celebrates understated elegance and inclusive definitions of masculinity has an all-singing, all-dancing moment in New York, under the gaze of a government that stands in baseball-hatted opposition to all of the above. Donald Trump’s second term has seen a dramatic pushback on diversity and inclusion programs.”

The spotlight on Black men “means everything” to so many people who have plied their trade in fashion for decades, celebrity stylist Avon Dorsey told NBC News. “It’s everything we could want,” said Dorsey, who has dressed A-list talent including Michael B. Jordan, Winston Duke and Jay Ellis. “We know that Black men throughout history have always come and shown up and shown out, whether it was a church suit or whether it’s with a top hat or fashion like how our uncles and grandfathers used to wear. So, knowing that this exhibit focuses on Black men specifically and the style of Black men, is an amazing thing, especially with the way that the world is right now.”

But with its $75,000 ticket price, it’s not easy to get to the gala in person. If you want to watch fashion’s biggest night, it can be watched via livestream on Vogue.com, YouTube or E!. This year, singer and actor Teyana Taylor, actor and producer La La Anthony and Saturday Night Live star Ego Nwodim will host the Met Gala livestream for Vogue.

Trump’s Alcatraz Plan

The president orders reopening of the famed prison that’s been closed for 60 years

In some surprising news to kick off the week, President Donald Trump said Sunday that he’s directed government departments to rebuild and reopen Alcatraz, the notorious former prison on a hard-to-reach California island off San Francisco. You might be asking yourself, “how long has it been closed”? Good question. And the answer would be for more than 60 years. Asked why he's reopening Alcatraz and where he got the idea from, Trump told reporters at the White House Sunday evening: “It's a symbol of law and order.”

Trump’s directive to expand and reopen the long-shuttered penitentiary was, as the Associated Press put it: “the latest salvo in his effort to overhaul how and where federal prisoners and immigration detainees are locked up.” But such a move would likely be an expensive and challenging proposition. The prison was closed in 1963 due to crumbling infrastructure and the high costs of repairing and supplying the island facility, because everything from fuel to food had to be brought in by boat.

Of course, bringing the facility up to modern-day standards would require massive investments at a time when the Bureau of Prisons has been shuttering prisons for similar infrastructure issues. Still in the 29 years it was open, 36 men attempted 14 separate escapes, according to the FBI. Nearly all were caught or didn’t survive the attempt. And now, the island attracts some 1.2 million visitors every year as part of the National Park Service’s Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

The Real ID Deadline Is Wednesday

Still don’t have one? Here’s what you need to know.

We’ve been hearing about it for a while it seems, but the day is almost here. Starting May 7, anyone traveling on a domestic flight inside the U.S. will be required to show a Real ID-compliant form of identification. For most people, that will be a driver’s license with the little star in the corner. And if you don’t have one of those, an American passport will do.

But if you don’t have anything the TSA recognizes as compliant with Real ID, you might be able to still board your flight. You’ll just want to get to the airport early. Like really early. The agency is advising passengers to arrive three hours before their flight for extra ID verification. “Passengers who present a state-issued identification that is not Real ID compliant and who do not have another acceptable alternative (e.g., passport) can expect to face delays, additional screening and the possibility of not being permitted into the security checkpoint,” TSA spokesperson Daniel D. Velez told Gizmodo via email. Even if you arrive early, however, there’s no guarantee you’ll be allowed to board your flight. So it’s much easier if you just have a Real ID that you can hand over to security.

So, of course, there’s now a last-minute rush to get those IDs in hand. Some Americans may already have an Enhanced ID, which is a “state-issued enhanced drivers licenses that provide proof of identity and U.S. citizenship when crossing the U.S. border in a vehicle,” according to DHS. They're currently issued by five states: Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, Vermont and Washington as a convenient way to enter Canada, Mexico or the Caribbean. While not all Enhanced IDs have the star marking, they are considered a compliant form of identification, so they can be used as an alternative to a Real ID at airports.

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