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Zendaya is feeling a variety of emotions as she prepares for her return to the Met Gala. Just weeks before she serves as co-chair for New York’s annual event, the actress is looking back on her past appearances.
“I first went when I was 18 years old,” Zendaya, 27, shared on the Tuesday, April 23, episode of Live With Kelly and Mark. “I remember being 18 and it was such an exciting and new experience, but still terrifying. Going up the steps is very daunting, and I haven’t been back for maybe four or five years. So this is, like, my first time back at the Met in quite a while.”
Following tradition, Zendaya said she will be working with her longtime stylist, Law Roach, to create something special. After all, they’ve been collaborating on unique pieces since the former Disney Channel star was 14.
“It’s fun in the sense that I like to look at fashion as creativity,” Zendaya shared. “Even in press tours, it’s a way to continue the creativity from the film. …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 this woman today who wears a green suit.’ You get to embody this character for a day and clothes can do that for you.”
For the 2024 Met Gala, guests including fellow co-chairs Jennifer Lopez, Bad Bunny and Chris Hemsworth will follow a dress code described as “The Garden of Time.” Inspired by J.G. Ballard’s 1962 short story of the same name, the fashion hopes to be all about “fleeting beauty.”
In an interview with E! News earlier this month, Zendaya admitted she and her stylist were hard at work finalizing a look.
“We have some ideas. It felt like the right time to try to go back to the Met. I believe the boys are going to go,” she shared of her Challengers costars, “and I know that Jonathan [Anderson], who is our incredible costume designer, is also hosting, so it felt like the right time.”
Back in 2015, Zendaya made her Met Gala debut in a custom Fausto Puglisi sun-motif dress. She went the following four years, and turned her appearance into a performance in 2019, when she transformed into Cinderella with a light-up pale blue Tommy Hilfiger ballgown inspired by the Disney classic.
“I’ve always loved fashion and I’ve found that it’s an incredibly fun way to express myself,” Zendaya told Harper’s Bazaar in 2022. “I definitely have a strong point of view on what I’m wearing and love to collaborate with my stylist Law.”