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Amanda Gorman Says Getting Asked to Co-Chair the Met Gala Was 'Like Cinderella Going to the Ball'

Amanda Gorman for PORTER magazine
Amanda Gorman for PORTER magazine

Kennedi Carter/Porter/ NET-A-PORTER.COM

Amanda Gorman is ready for her real-life fairytale moment.

While chatting with PORTER for their latest cover story, the 23-year-old poet and activist opened up about co-chairing the annual Met Gala, which is scheduled to take place later this year in September.

Speaking about the event, Gorman told the outlet that her role as co-chair is something she never imagined. "The closest analogy is feeling like Cinderella going to the ball," she said. "Anna Wintour took the time to ask me over Zoom; I was not expecting that at all."

Gorman, who skyrocketed to fame when she read her poem "The Hill We Climb" at Joe Biden's presidential inauguration, will be co-chairing alongside Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish and Naomi Osaka. She said taking on the co-chair role "feels like being a freshman at a party with seniors. You know? Like I just arrived here. My life has changed quite recently and they are all at the top of their game, and so I'm just absorbing what it means to be able to stand beside their greatness."

"There is something unifying in us being young and fresh-faced but, at the same time, we have become somewhat emblematic of our industries," she added. "We are the new generation — and you'd better watch out."

RELATED: The Met Gala Will Return in September with a 2-Part Exhibition Focused on American Fashion

Amanda Gorman for PORTER magazine
Amanda Gorman for PORTER magazine

Kennedi Carter/Porter/ NET-A-PORTER.COM

After the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Vogue's annual fashion event was indefinitely postponed — and ultimately canceled — in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Metropolitan Museum of Art confirmed the gala will be back in two parts earlier this year.

The museum's next exhibition will include a series of events celebrating American fashion. Part one, titled In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, will debut on September 18, 2021, and run through September 5, 2022, to "celebrate The Costume Institute's 75th anniversary and explore a modern vocabulary of American fashion," a release states.

Jourdan Dunn, Zac Posen, Katie Holmes, Nina Dobrev, Julia Garner, Gia Coppola, Andrew Garfield, Vito Schnabel, and Jamie Foxx attend The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2019 in New York City.
Jourdan Dunn, Zac Posen, Katie Holmes, Nina Dobrev, Julia Garner, Gia Coppola, Andrew Garfield, Vito Schnabel, and Jamie Foxx attend The 2019 Met Gala Celebrating Camp: Notes on Fashion at Metropolitan Museum of Art on May 06, 2019 in New York City.

Mike Coppola/MG19/Getty

Part two, In America: An Anthology of Fashion, will open on May 5, 2022, and "will explore the development of American fashion by presenting narratives that relate to the complex and layered histories of those spaces." It will also close on September 5, 2022.

To kick off the part one opening, "a more intimate" Met Gala is set to take place on the second Monday in September, "pending government guidelines," while the 2022 Met Gala celebrating part two will adhere to the traditional "First Monday in May" timing, set to take place on May 2, 2022.

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Timothée Chalamet; Amanda Gorman; Naomi Osaka; Billie Eilish
Timothée Chalamet; Amanda Gorman; Naomi Osaka; Billie Eilish

Amy Sussman/Getty Images; Mike Coppola/Getty Images; Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images; Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic

The first Met Gala was held in 1948 as a benefit dinner, and was not pegged to a particular exhibition. From 1948 to 1971, it was held offsite at the Waldorf Astoria or the Rainbow Room, according to CNN. It was canceled in 1963, following the assassination of President John F. Kennedy, and again in 2002, following the 9/11 attacks.

Today the Met Gala is the Costume Institute's primary source of annual funding for "exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, operations and capital improvements."

Kylie, Kim, Kendall
Kylie, Kim, Kendall

Kylie Jenner, Kim Kardashian and Kendall Jenner

While Chalamet, 25, Eilish, 19, Osaka, 23, and Gorman are four of the youngest Met Gala co-chairs ever selected, Vogue says they have already "made their mark in fashion" by breaking down barriers and embracing individualism.

The 2020 Met Gala was set to be co-hosted by Louis Vuitton artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière, Vogue's Wintour, 71, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Emma Stone and Meryl Streep and center around the theme, "About Time: Fashion and Duration."

RELATED VIDEO: Look Back at Some of the Best Looks from the Met Gala Years Past

Continuing to chat with PORTER, Gorman also opened up about her own fashion following Joe Biden's inauguration, which thrust her into the national spotlight.

"I love playing with ways in which I can celebrate my Black heritage through fashion, so I made the intentional choice to wear my hair natural, to wear braids, to wear a headband as a point of pride," she said of the occasion where she recited her poem, "The Hill We Climb."

On describing her own style, Gorman notes, "It's like describing your own voice."

"But, if I had to describe my style, I would say that it's how I feel on the inside," she added. "I love clothing that feels young and vibrant and hopeful, but also thoughtful and pensive."

Gorman also believes her role in the Met Gala will help shape future fashion events, where she thinks writers and poets will be able to also make their marks. "I'm even more enthusiastic to see all the other writers and poets who may grace that red carpet in the future," she told the outlet. "And I hope that, when you see my look, you can feel what I'm saying loud and clear."