If Doechii’s Met Gala Makeup Made You Uncomfortable, You’re Not Alone

Photo: Getty Images

Blink and you might have missed it. Heck, you might have missed it even if you squinted. But Doechii had the most controversial beauty look at the 2025 Met Gala—and I don’t think that’s necessarily a bad thing.

The rapper turned out to the affair predictably stylish in head-to-toe Louis Vuitton menswear. Keeping close to the theme, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” she donned a white LV-monogrammed short suit, garnering tons of praise from netizens and critics. At this point, we all expect Doechii to turn a look that showcases the artistry she brings to her music. What wasn’t expected, though, was the prosthetic LV logo on her cheek made to look as if she’d literally been branded by the fashion house—an image that stirred up very mixed feelings among some Black folks, myself included.

Hip-hop fashion is known for its devotion to high-end labels and unapologetic flaunting of logos. This aesthetic, pioneered by Harlem designer Dapper Dan in the ’80s and ’90s, initially faced its share of criticism (as trends started by Black folks tend to do in the face of white societal tastes and norms). The world has since embraced it as an expression of artistry and luxury unique to Black American style, and that was on full display in Doechii’s fashion and beauty choices.

For me, the branded cheek recalls an iconic moment in hip-hop fashion: Lil’ Kim’s cover shoot for Interview magazine’s November 1999 issue by David LaChappelle. It depicted the rapper wearing nary but a Louis Vuitton-stamped leather hat, the brand’s logo printed all over her nude body. At first, I thought of Doechii’s Met Gala look as a nice nod to her femcee predecessor and a continuation of that legacy and relationship between high fashion and hip-hop. But then I thought, Wait a minute… a brand? On a Black woman? This one will definitely have folks talking.

“Doechii’s beauty look did something last night that a lot of others did not but maybe should have: It started a real conversation.”

And it did. Some saw the brand in a more sinister light than I initially did. Threads user @freddyourlove raised some concerns about the look. “LOVE me some Doechii… I’m absolutely not into this European logo ‘branded’ on her skin for a night celebrating the labor and ingenuity of Black culture and Black men,” they wrote. “Not reading as subversive from here.”

Some people had a different interpretation, though. “I thought it was a comment on large brands stealing ideas from black creators and branding them as their own… A safe double entendre,” user @greywater commented. “For me, it read as, ‘even the black skin I’m in is designer/unaffordable — as if made by an internationally known brand. You could never afford to be me; I was born into this luxury,’” @xubsdraws added.

Dapper Dan came up a lot in this context. He was forced to close down his Harlem boutique after Fendi sued him for copyright infringement in 1992. These days, Dan is sought out for collaboration by the very fashion houses that once rejected him and was even a host of the Met Gala this year.

It wasn’t all criticism, though. Chelsea Uchenna, the makeup artist who created the look using a prosthetic by Malina Stearns, posted an image of Doechii’s gala look to her Instagram feed and was met with great congratulations for what commenters saw as the genius behind the LV logo.

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The story behind the look as a whole further complicates the symbolism of the brand. Doechii discussed in a red-carpet interview how she pulled inspiration from Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity, which inspired this year’s gala theme. “We studied a little bit on this character, Julius Soubise, who really stood out to me.”

Soubise was a once-enslaved Afro-Caribbean man from the island of St. Kitts. He was brought over to England at the age of 10 by Captain Sir Douglas of the British Royal Navy and then given to Catherine Hyde Douglas, the duchess of Queensbury, who took a liking to him. She fully adopted him, turning him into a fixture of high society. He was given formal schooling, fencing and equestrian lessons, and dressed like a proper gentleman. He became known in England for his flamboyant and fashionable attire—something of a flex for the duchess. A well-kept Black person was seen as a display of wealth for the white aristocracy.

Enslaved Africans were sometimes branded by their white owners, and while we don’t know whether or not Soubise was branded, the fact that he was an enslaved person who was bought and later brought up in high society was enough to inspire some uncomfortable feelings.

“Doechii’s faux face brand challenges us to think about what drives and inspires Black art.”

But regardless of how you or I interpreted it—or whether Doechii and Uchenna meant for the brand to be symbolic of anything deeper—one thing is certain: Doechii’s beauty look did something last night that a lot of others did not, but maybe should have. It started a real conversation about the relationship between Black creatives and the fashion industry.

Black people’s connection to white folks in the West has for centuries been marred by violence and oppression. Despite it all, Black people have still created and innovated, turning ugly societal circumstances into art, invention, and revolution. I think Doechii’s faux face brand reflects that. It challenges us to think about what drives and inspires Black art and Black people’s ability to transmute oppression into something else.

It also serves as a reminder that this relationship is inherently fragile and should not be taken for granted. The Met Gala theme of dandyism itself comes from Black men throughout history who used “proper” Western sartorial cues to signal their personhood, individuality, and inherent value as human beings—something that was and still is often ignored and at times vilified. Dandyism is itself a form of resistance. I like to think that Doechii’s LV logo could also be interpreted as such.

More from the Met Gala:

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