From festival drip to the Tony Awards, red carpet events, and the biggest college stars in women’s basketball—photographer Denise Stephanie Hewitt has captured intimate and energized portraits for Vogue. The 2025 Met Gala was her fifth year photographing for the event—and she’s the youngest photographer to have ever been commissioned to do so. This time, she got deeper inside, capturing some of the night’s most striking scenes and portraiture.
“I still get chills each year I get the email asking me to photograph it,” Hewitt tells Vogue. She first photographed the Met age 19, and this was her first year inside as things really went down. “It’s an invite to an intimate space where people are workshopping their final look in real time or practicing their plating before guests arrive. There’s trust put on me to capture a record of people’s artistic practice that does it justice. I’m used to being the youngest in the room, and have been able to pave my way in spite of it.”
Hewit knew that, this year, she would be photographing the co-chairs—A$AP Rocky, Colman Domingo, Pharrell Williams, and Lewis Hamilton—but wasn’t aware who the secret “special guest” joining them would be. She waited around for the moment, watching Megan thee Stallion and Sabrina Carpenter pass by. When she saw former vice president Kamala Harris (wearing a custom look from Off-White, designed by creative director IB Kamara, for her first Met Gala appearance) emerge from behind the curtains, she couldn’t believe it: “I made the shots very quick, counting out loud to get everyone prepared, and got out of the way.”
The Gen-Z, Brooklyn-born photographer has had some special moments shooting in celebrity hotel rooms amid the getting ready ruckus, the tumult on the steps of the Met, and the finishing touches to the hallowed inside. “I was up at The Plaza shooting Sha’Carri Richardson get ready, it was my first Met Gala assignment,” Hewitt recalls of her 2021 Met Gala. At just 19, she bonded with the U.S. track star over how young they both were in their respective fields, and their joint first Met Galas. “I remember Sha’Carri telling me to stay the course and to keep on pushing forward, not to be scared to be the youngest in the room because I’m there for a reason. That really meant a lot coming from another young woman carving her way on such a large stage.”
In May 2022, she ventured into Gunna’s room at The Mark Hotel where the rapper was wearing a custom robe with the parking “P” emoji, for his hit song “pushin P.” “I got a shot of him, holding a bottle of Dom Perignon, just blissfully in the moment, getting ready to live out the lyrics to another one of his songs, ‘Met Gala.’ About a week later, we got the news of his arrest. It’s crazy to think that I got to memorialize such a special moment for him just before his time behind bars.”
When she heard the “Tailored For You” theme, Hewitt tapped her friend Julio Colón at iA to create her custom suit. “He’s mastered this baggy yet tailored pants silhouette that is perfect for even me, someone who’s very petite,” she says. “The process is a collaborative experience, and he’s very precise. His pieces make me feel grand, despite my small stature, and I think that’s a part of the approach to dandyism. It’s embodying who you know yourself to be, despite outside perception. It reminds me of my great grandmother who used to dress to the nines to go to church each Sunday, and my grandfather taking his portraits in both suits and his military uniform.” She wore Blackstock & Weber Onyx tassel loafers, and earrings and a ring stack from GRISÉ NYC. This year’s Met Gala fell on Hewitt’s birthday, so she wore a birthday pin on her lapel. (Jordan Casteel gave her birthday wishes).
Glam was by New York MUA Melissa, and for hair, Hewitt opted for her signature Fulani braids with curled ends. “Last minute, while sitting in the chair, I decided to try a new, Tyla-inspired design that swoops to my right,” she says. “I’m usually scared to do something new since the process is so time consuming and braids are a month-long commitment, but I’m so glad I did.”
With a few Met Gala years under her belt now, Hewitt always comes prepared—extra batteries, lights, and cameras. But she keeps herself to being a fly on the wall to capture the most intimate moments in action: “[I want to] honor the space that I am in and who I am working with, [and] I just like to bear witness to these little moments you can only see by quietly paying attention.”
Inside the Met, Hewitt was able to see the real depth and detail to the looks—seeing Miley Cyrus in custom Alaïa was a personal favorite moment—as well as the opulent Cy Gavin-inspired, Narcissus flower centrepiece and James Beard Award–winning chef Kwame Onwuachi’s plates of papaya piri-piri salad and Creole roasted chicken in the Temple of Dendur. “What looks subtle on camera, shines so much brighter in person,” she says.
Backstage with all the editors and photographers, toward the end of the night, Anna Wintour, Anne Hathaway, Colman Domingo, and Baz Luhrmann came in and thanked them for all their work. “It was such a sweet and unexpected way to end the night,” she says.
And to end the 2025 Met Gala night? Hewitt stopped by her first Met Gala after-party at the Public Hotel hosted by Janelle Monae and Doechii.
