Zendaya Coleman Calls Diana Ross ‘the Reference’ as She Watches the Singer walks the 2025 Met Gala Steps

• Zendaya fangirled over Diana Ross while walking the 2025 Met Gala red carpet
• The Challengers actress declared that the singer is “the reference” at the event
• Ross’s Meta Gala look included an 18-foot shawl that required six people to carry

Zendaya is giving Diana Ross her flowers.

On Monday, May 5, the actress and the musician both attended the 2025 Met Gala at New York City’s Metropolitan Museum of Art in their best dandyism-inspired looks.

Ross, 81, nearly shut down the carpet while ascending the steps at the Met. The “I’m Coming Out” singer wowed at the event in a floor-length, shimmering silver gown. The drama, however, came in the form of an 18-foot feathered shawl that required six helpers — seven, if including her son, Evan, who attended alongside her and provided additional assistance — to walk the carpet.

The shawl was embroidered with a family tree featuring her children and grandchildren’s names.

Zendaya, 28, looked at Ross on the red carpet with awe, and when camera caught her reaction at the show-stopping look, the Challengers star said, “She’s the reference!”

Evan, 36, likely agrees with the Euphoria star. When Diana and Evan spoke about attending this year’s Met Gala with Vogue Met Gala livestream host La La Anthony, the musician’s son had nothing but positive things to say about his mother’s influence.

Evan told Anthony, 45, that his mother is the best Met Gala guest to ever grace the event, and that she is also “the best thing of all time.”

He added, “She is the Met ball.”

Diana gave the livestream host additional details about her outfit, and revealed, “If you ever had pictures of the inside of the train, it has the names of all my children and my eight grandchildren. Everybody’s name is embroidered in that.”

The look also included a matching feathered headpiece that required precaution, with Diana revealing, “I had to be careful with the hat because my head was pretty big.”

Despite pulling off such a show-stopping look, the singer explained that she was initially not planning to go. “Everything was really, really at last moment,” the singer told Anthony. “My son persuaded me, ’cause I’m actually on tour.”

Zendaya, meanwhile, wore an all white, three-piece custom Louis Vuitton zoot suit, designed by Pharrell Williams. The look included a matching white tie and wide brim hat, and was further accessorized with a sparkling brooch pinned below her back collar.

In the red carpet video, Zendaya meant that Diana was her reference — literally, as the zoot suit was inspired by Diana’s role in the 1975 movie, Mahogany, according to Vogue.

Later in the evening, Zendaya and Diana caught up at the event and posed for photos inside (though phones are technically banned).

In a photo shared by Vogue, Diana could be see donning “a frothy beaded purple and black tulle gown,” which the singer designed herself — also drawing inspiration from the costumes she wore in Mahogany.

The theme of the Met Gala this year, as well as the museum’s spring 2025 exhibition, is “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” while the dress code for the event was “Tailored for You,” which spotlights the exhibition’s focus on menswear and suiting.

The exhibit, according to Curator in Charge Andrew Bolton, is inspired by guest curator Monica L. Miller’s 2009 book, Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity. The book notably explores “the Black dandy as both a concept and an identity signifier.”

In addition to having stars like Zendaya and Diana attend the event, the 2025 Met Gala host committee included Simone Biles and her husband, Jonathan Owens, as well as Doechii, Regina King, Spike Lee, Usher and Angel Reese.