Janelle Monáe and Odessa A’zion’s Met Gala After-Party Was All About the ‘Sun-Up’ Glow
At Public Hotel, Monáe and A’zion gathered their closest friends and celebrity pals for the aptly-titled After Glow fete.
Reported by Vogue.
The Met Gala red carpet is a performance. What happens at 2:30 a.m. on the Lower East Side is the real show. Janelle Monáe and Odessa A'zion co-hosted the After Glow — their aptly named post-Met fete at Public Hotel's Two Fifteen lounge — and if the guest list and the timeline are any indication, nobody was sleeping before sunrise.
The venue was pure intention: an all-black den lit by chandeliers and candle-lit tables scattered with gold confetti and mini disco balls, DJ Tokyo Rose behind the decks, Prince pumping through the speakers before guests even made it past the neon escalators. A'zion was already working the black jacquard sofas when Monáe arrived and the two launched into the kind of full-body reunion hug that tells you everything about how long the night had already been. Monáe, Bacardi cocktail raised, made the mission clear: "We're going to go 'til the sun is up." They were not bluffing.
Dressed Down, Turned Up
According to Vogue, Monáe had closed out the official Met Gala carpet in a custom Christian Siriano gown engineered for spectacle — wires, crystals, succulents, and actual mechanical dragonflies and butterflies in motion, a wearable collaboration between technology and art. By After Glow, the look had shifted: a black mini dress with structured shoulders and a silver metal bustier. Heels? Off by midnight-ish. Monáe spent a good portion of the night barefoot and unbothered. A'zion matched the all-black energy, adding dark shades indoors — a move that reads as absurd until you consider it was technically her third outfit of the evening, following an earlier bit where she posed at The Mark Hotel in a bathrobe alongside Hudson Williams before their actual red carpet reveals.
Just before 4 a.m., Monáe grabbed the mic again — "New York, New York! All the coolest people are here tonight" — and led the room through a call-and-response rap that felt less like a performance and more like a congregation. Then Angela Bassett walked in. As one does. The two posed for photos while the DJ turned the energy back up, and the room showed exactly zero signs of fatigue. The party held until actual sunrise.
When fashion's biggest night ends, the women who know how to host remind you that the real dress code is joy.
Read the original at Vogue.
