Each spring a handful of attractive celebrities who do not seem as if they would hang out in any other situation are selected as co-chairs of the Met Gala, the black-tie blowout that is essentially the X Games of fashion (subtract motorcycles, add tulle).

This year, Anna Wintour, Zendaya, Jennifer Lopez, Chris Hemsworth and Bad Bunny will head up the gala taking place on Monday. The co-chairs were revealed in February in an Instagram video created to look as if the five were yukking it up in a group text message. “I can free up that day,” Mr. Hemsworth wrote, with a winky face. Bad Bunny contributed three flame emojis.

Random as it may seem, co-chair selection is a delicate alchemy that seeks to telegraph the event’s appeal across age groups and creative industries, especially fashion, film, music and social media. The lineup of Timothée Chalamet, Billie Eilish, Naomi Osaka and Amanda Gorman in 2021 seemed to scream “We are relevant to Gen Z!”

The co-chairs also tend to be among the night’s earlier arrivals. Please, spare yourself the embarrassment of asking your Met Gala watch party whether that’s the Hemsworth who plays “Thor” or the Hemsworth who was in “The Hunger Games” — we’re here to help.

Anna Wintour

You know her from: Vogue

Try not to look too surprised. Ms. Wintour, 74, the global editorial director of Condé Nast and the editor in chief of Vogue, has been the driving force behind the gala since 1999 and has essentially become its perma-host. Since her first spin hosting the gala in 1995, she has been credited with transforming the event from a fusty dinner into one of the most coveted invites of the year, not to mention a blockbuster fund-raiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.