It’s Met Gala Bathroom Selfie Season

It’s the first Tuesday in May, which means it’s time for one of the celebrity gossip world’s most beloved traditions: analyzing the annual Met Gala bathroom selfie. Though photos are technically banned inside the event, Anna Wintour appears to have given a special dispensation to the bathroom selfie, which has been a Met tradition for nearly a decade. Past posters include the likes of Coco Jones, Lil Nas X, and Billie Eilish, all of whom gave us a brief glimpse of what celebrities are like before/after they do their business. 

Though we have examples of Met Gala selfies dating back as far as 2016, when Joan Smalls posted this one featuring herself, Hailey Bieber, Stella Maxwell, Doutzen Kroes, and the Lilys Rose Depp and Aldrige, the photo most associated with starting the trend is this iconic (and at times infamous) snap from Kylie Jenner in 2017. 

This shot, featuring Kylie, her sisters Kendall Jenner and Kim Kardashian, Paris Jackson, A$AP Rocky, a very uncomfortable-looking Brie Larson, Frank Ocean, Lily Aldridge (again!), and—unfortunately—Diddy, “broke the internet,” as Kardashians are wont to do, and was followed by an avalanche of behind-the-scenes bathroom photos, most of which featured celebrities smoking in there. (For shame! That’s a museum!) 

So how does this year’s Met Gala selfie stack up to the one that started it all? This year’s pic comes courtesy of Indian model Bhavitha Mandava, who made history last December as the first Indian model to open a Chanel Métiers d’Art show.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Bhavitha Mandava (@bhavithamandava)

Mandava is in the middle of the photos, styled by Chanel in a quarter-zip and jeans (I would be livid, but Mandava makes it work). Here’s another angle from Canadian-South Sudanese model Awar Odhiang.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Awar (@awarodhiang)

Slightly less flattering for the celebs involved, but Odhiang’s (far right next to Ayo Edebiri) cheekbones look amazing so, so I get why she posted it. She’s a model, after all.

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A post shared by Bhavitha Mandava (@bhavithamandava)

Like all past Met Gala selfies, the pic is a who’s who of this year’s fashionable it girls, including all the members of BLACKPINK, Audrey Nuna, Gracie Abrams, Rachel Sennott, Ayo Edebiri, and Margot Robbie. It’s definitely good, but to reach true 2017 selfie levels, we’d have needed to get a few more heavy hitters. Where’s Alyssa Liu? Or surprise-performer Sabrina Carpenter? Surely Connor Storrie and Hudson Williams get the girls’ room pass? And not a cigarette in sight! Today’s celebs really have gone soft. 

• “Uh….Shrek 2.” – Sabrina Carpenter on her favorite movie. [x] 
• Harry and Meghan’s 2021 Oprah interview gave Prince William a tummyache 🙁 [Page Six]
• It Finally Ended…in a settlement. [The A.V. Club]
• Olivia Rodrigo ‘liked’ a post about boycotting the Bezos Met Gala (before attending the YSL Met Gala after party.) [Teen Vogue]
• Tim Heidecker debuted as the new host of InfoWars, and it is certainly an improvement. [Rolling Stone]
• The Zendaya effect continues: Jessie Williams and Alejandra Onieva got married in secret!!! [TMZ]