You Probably Didn't See These 2021 Met Gala Hosts Coming

It may be the first Monday in May today, but once again, the Met Gala is not happening. However, while the iconic event was cancelled in 2020 due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the show will go on in 2021 — but not on its usual date. Instead, the event is rescheduled for Sept. 13, 2021. The full exhibition will then open to the public on Sept. 18. As with years past, a handful of public figures and celebrities have been handpicked to host the big night, and this year, the hosts of the 2021 Met Gala are ones you probably never saw coming.

The co-chairs of the Sept. 13 Met Gala will include Timothee Chalamet, Amanda Gorman, Billie Eilish, and Naomi Osaka. American designer Tom Ford is also an honorary co-chair. This lineup of talent is notably younger in age than the group of co-chairs has been previously. In 2019, apart from 27-year-old singer Harry Styles, the remaining co-chairs — Lady Gaga, Serena Williams, and Gucci's Alessandro Michele — skewed a tad older. It was the same in 2018, when Amal Clooney and Rihanna hosted alongside Donatella Versace.

This definitively younger group of celebrities for 2021 — all of whom are in their early 20s, apart from Eilish, who's 19 — could speak to Gen Z's growing influence over the fashion world as a whole, but particularly with luxury fashion. High-end brands continuously scramble to pander to younger audiences, whose ability to catapult a cause, product, trend, or event from hashtag to viral sensation in minutes is unmatched. And as fashion and social media trends toward relatability as opposed to aspiration, perhaps The Met Gala hopes to make fashion's biggest night a bit more palatable in a world of TikTok stars and microinfluencers.

See you in September for the Oscars of Fashion.