Zendaya Says Her Experiences at the Met Gala Have Been “Exciting”—But Also “Terrifying” and “Daunting”

In less than two weeks’ time, Zendaya will co-chair the Met Gala on May 6 alongside Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny, Chris Hemsworth, and, of course, Anna Wintour. Ahead of the event, the Challengers star is looking back at her first experience at the Met, which she told Kelly Ripa and Mark Consuelos was “terrifying” and “daunting.”

Zendaya first attended the event in 2015, when she was just 18—and said she was a bundle of nerves while appearing on Live with Kelly and Mark. “I first went when I was 18 years old,” she said. “It was such an exciting and new experience but still terrifying, you know?” She added “Going up the steps, it’s very daunting.” (Nervous though she may have been, she stunned in a black and red gown by Fausto Puglisi, spiky gold jewelry, and an artful headband.)

She returns to the gala this year for the first time after a five year hiatus, having not attended since 2019, where “her light-up Cinderella dress, complete with a magic wand, completely stole the show on the red carpet,” Us Weekly writes. In total, she has attended five times—every year from 2015 to 2019—and her stylist of 13 years, Law Roach, has been a part of the entire ride, including this year. Roach told Vogue earlier this month that he and Zendaya have “no confirmed designer” and “no sketch” for her outfit—although, surely, that has changed since the interview.

This year’s theme is “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion,” and the gala’s dress code is “The Garden of Time.” According to Andrew Bolton, head curator of the Costume Institute at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “It is very much an ode to nature and the emotional poetics of fashion,” he told Vogue last November. 

We can’t wait to see what Zendaya and Roach have in store and how they interpret the theme—especially in light of the killer looks they’ve been serving on Zendaya’s Dune: Part Two and Challengers press tours this year. 

“It’s fun in the sense that I like to look at fashion as creativity,” Zendaya said. “Even in press tours, it’s a way to continue the creativity from the film or from the whatever. And I like to just create characters because ultimately sometimes doing this for a living feels a little weird and awkward and I’m more of a shy, introverted person, so I get to create these characters. I’m like, ‘I’m this woman today who wears a green suit.’ And you get to embody this character for a day, and clothes can do that for you.”