White Lotus actress Aimee Lou Wood and Olympic champion Gabrielle Thomas stepped out at the 2025 Met Gala in custom looks by Ahluwalia – the cutting-edge fashion label founded by University of Westminster Menswear MA graduate Priya Ahluwalia.
Known as fashion’s biggest night, the annual event raises funds for New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute and invites attendees to express themselves through fashion. Each year the Met Gala embraces a new theme, this time spotlighting Superfine: Tailoring Black Style, with a dress code of Tailored for You. The theme celebrated the role of Black style over the centuries, particularly in relation to menswear and Black dandyism.
Aimee Lou Wood. Photo credit: Instagram/@priya.ahluwalia1
Paying homage to classic men’s tailoring, British actress Aimee Lou Wood, who is known for her roles in The White Lotus and Sex Education, was dressed in a custom-tailored black coat with a silk sash worn over a white shirt. American Olympic runner Gabrielle Thomas’ outfit offered a different interpretation of the theme with a floor-length red gown featuring beading and a tailored waistcoat.
Gabrielle Thomas. Photo credit: Instagram/@priya.ahluwalia1
The theme aligned with Priya’s expertise as a Westminster Menswear MA graduate, whose namesake brand Ahluwalia draws inspiration from her Indian-Nigerian heritage by repurposing vintage materials in factories that employ rural women and pay them fairly. Ahluwalia explores the potential of vintage and dead stock clothing, giving existing textiles a new life through menswear.
After graduating from Westminster in 2018, Priya went onto receive the Queen Elizabeth II Award for British Design for her brand Ahluwalia. Ahluwalia was also chosen as one of the eight brands to win the LVMH Prize in 2020, and Priya was named in Forbes Magazine’s 30 under 30 list for 2020 and won the H&M Design Awards in 2019.
About Priya’s achievement Professor Andrew Groves, Director of the Westminster Menswear Archive, said: “Priya Ahluwalia’s Met Gala debut, dressing Gabby Thomas and Aimee Lou Wood, was a powerful display of cultural storytelling through precision tailoring. Her work draws on identity, heritage and the richness of the Black diaspora, all shaped by the rigorous, narrative-led approach we champion on the Menswear MA course at Westminster.”
Priya’s work and the Fashion courses available at Westminster directly contribute to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 4: Quality Education and 12: Responsible Consumption and Production. Since 2019, the University of Westminster has used the SDGs holistically to frame strategic decisions to help students and colleagues fulfil their potential and contribute to a more sustainable, equitable and healthier society.
Find out more about Fashion courses at the University of Westminster.
