André 3000 recalled entering the 2008 Met Gala through the kitchen, saying, “I rarely do red carpets… I’m going through the kitchen, I’m hollering at cooks, we’re chopping it up… It was kind of like a spy stealth mission.” For the 2025 Met Gala, he made a bold return by arriving with a grand piano strapped to his back and dropping a surprise EP. The tracks, mostly recorded on his iPhone 12–15 years ago, include “blueberry mansions” and “i spend all day waiting for the night,” which date back to the Stankonia era. André said, “I had a piano in my house, and sometimes I would record ideas… I would email them to my son… Erykah [Badu]… Q-Tip or Tyler the Creator.” Rediscovering these, he decided to release a vinyl collection, explaining, “I wanted to make a collective out of them… I totally would [put it in my record collection]!”
His Met Gala outfit was a collaboration between his revived brand Benji Bixby and Burberry, designed with Law Roach and Daniel Lee. Roach shared, “The first person I thought about was André.” Lee noted André’s fashion savvy: “He knows and talks about clothes in such a technical and expert way…” André, referencing Burberry’s explorer heritage, said, “Where I connect with Burberry is the trench coat… making clothes for explorers.” The final look—a navy jumpsuit—blended OutKast-era flair with Burberry tradition. Of the piano prop, Roach said, “Only him. He’s the only one.” André explained, “It’s saying a lot for this little bitty piano album, which is kind of hilarious to me.”
Reflecting on his 2008 look—“a white Bixby dinner jacket, black trousers, and jaunty boater hat”—André said of dandyism, “My understanding… is your own personal outburst in fashion… You don’t really have to try for it if it’s something that you are doing.”
