Each spring a handful of attractive celebrities who do not seem as if they would hang out in any other situation are selected as co-chairs of the Met Gala, the black-tie blowout that is essentially the X Games of fashion (subtract motorcycles, add tulle).
This year, Anna Wintour, Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Hemsworth and Bad Bunny will head up the gala taking place Monday. The co-chairs were revealed in February in an Instagram video created to look as if the five were yukking it up in a group text message. “I can free up that day,” Hemsworth wrote, with a winky face. Bad Bunny contributed three flame emojis.
Random as it may seem, co-chair selection is a delicate alchemy that seeks to telegraph the event’s appeal across age groups and creative industries, especially fashion, film, music and social media. The lineup of Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Naomi Osaka and Amanda Gorman in 2021 seemed to scream “We are relevant to Gen Z!”
The co-chairs also tend to be among the night’s earlier arrivals. Please, spare yourself the embarrassment of asking your Met Gala watch party whether that’s the Hemsworth who plays “Thor” or the Hemsworth who was in “The Hunger Games” — we’re here to help.
Anna Wintour
You know her from: Vogue
Try not to look too surprised. Wintour, 74, the global editorial director of Condé Nast and the editor-in-chief of Vogue, has been the driving force behind the gala since 1999 and has essentially become its perma-host. Since her first spin hosting the gala in 1995, she has been credited with transforming the event from a fusty dinner into one of the most coveted invites of the year, not to mention a blockbuster fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.
Wintour gets final say over every invitation sent and handpicks her co-chairs. She also hits the carpet each year in her signature helmet-like bob and a gown, often by Oscar de la Renta, Prada or Chanel. It’s one of the few times a year she leaves the sunglasses at home.
Zendaya
You know her from: the sands of Arrakis; the red carpets of Earth
Zendaya, 27, rose from Disney fame to leading roles in HBO’s Gen Z drama “Euphoria” and in the poly-curious tennis film “Challengers.” She has not attended the Met’s signature event since 2019 — but she has been turning pretty much every red carpet into her own personal Met Gala instead.
The actress promoted the film “Dune: Part Two” in a sandstorm of cyborg looks, including a gleaming, vintage robot suit by Mugler. Her “Challengers” press tour fashion has been explicitly athletic, like the varsity-style tennis dress she wore in Rome last month with tennis-ball stilettos to match.
Those looks were assembled by the “image architect” Law Roach, who showed up on the red carpet with Zendaya for her Met Gala appearance in 2019, as the fairy godmother to her Cinderella.
Jennifer Lopez
You know her from: the block
Lopez, 54, a singer and actress, has attended more than a dozen Met Galas since her first appearance in 1999. This is her first time serving as a co-chair, shortly after the release of her bewildering movie “This Is Me ... Now: A Love Story.”
Lopez has been a reliable source of fun on the Met’s carpet over the past two decades, wearing a giraffe-print Michael Kors gown with a punky bouffant in 2013 and an Indiana Jones hat with a faux-shearling stole in 2021. This year, she may accessorize with her husband, actor Ben Affleck.
Bad Bunny
You know him from: pop superstardom
Bad Bunny, the 30-year-old megastar whose music draws from reggaeton, Latin trap and beyond, has reached the kind of success that expands the possibilities for Spanish-language pop worldwide, according to our critic Jon Caramanica. His 2022 album, “Un Verano Sin Ti,” was the most streamed of that year, and the first release performed in Spanish to receive a nomination for album of the year at the Grammy Awards.
He has also emerged as a gutsy, playful red-carpet presence. He showed up to last year’s Met Gala in a backless suit with a sweeping, floral train by Simon Porte Jacquemus. He has attended twice, and has been notably chill about the invitations. “I know that day is going to be an exciting thing,” he told The New York Times in 2022. “But I’m working a lot this week!”
Chris Hemsworth
You know him from: the Marvel and Hemsworth brother extended universes
Hemsworth, the 40-year-old Australian actor who swings around a hammer as “Thor” in the Marvel franchise, is probably nobody’s idea of a fashion innovator. But he is a dependable box-office hitmaker who has two major movies coming out in the next year: “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga” and “Transformers One.”
Hemsworth, who will be a first-time Met Gala attendee, is also a member of one of Hollywood’s famous families. It is not yet clear whether his brother Liam, known for his role in the “Hunger Games” franchise as well as his short-lived marriage to Miley Cyrus, will attend. Chris Hemsworth’s wife, model and actress Elsa Pataky, seems a safer bet.
Will he go bananas on the red carpet? If his past attire is any indication, he may go for a tuxedo in black, navy or potentially even gray.
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