The official co-chairs (and honorary chairs) of the 2024 Met Gala were announced Thursday, and an unexpected businessman will join the ranks of stylish celebrities attending the event led by longtime American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour.
TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew will serve as honorary president “on the first Monday in May” at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The social media platform is sponsoring the May 6 event together with Loewe’s creative director, Jonathan Anderson.
This marks the first time a social media executive will hold the title at the annual gala.
This year’s co-chairs are Bad Bunny, Jennifer Lopez, Zendaya and Chris Hemsworth. The theme of the event is “The Garden of Time” and will be staged with the accompanying exhibition “Sleeping Beauties: The Awakening of Fashion”.
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Last spring, Chew testified before Congress on myriad issues, from privacy to data storage. Two weeks ago, Chew testified again at another hearing alongside other social media CEOs, including Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg and X’s Linda Yaccarino, to discuss potential dangers for children using social media platforms.
Chew’s selection isn’t out of left field: Wintour is known to select the people she deems to be most culturally relevant at the time. There are approximately 150 million TikTok users in the United States and it has undoubtedly become an important part of culture and business.
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The Met Gala is estimated to have raised over $223.5 million for the Met’s Costume Institute over the years.
It hasn’t yet been revealed what designer Chew will wear on the carpet, although Loewe is a good guess.