Kennedi Carter Shoots Amanda Gorman

Joe Biden’s presidential inauguration day poet Amanda Gorman is eloquent and articulate, projecting an intoxicating, digital warmth and inner confidence as she reflects on being asked to co-chair the Met Gala, Monday September 13, with Billie Eilish, Naomi Osaka and Timothée Chalamet.

“The closest analogy is feeling like Cinderella going to the ball,” Gorman tells Kadish Morris in her July 26, 2021 Porter Edit interview ‘Chapter and Verse’ with Amanda Gorman.

Fresh off her June 2021 cover story for Glamour Magazine featuring American gymnast Simone Biles, Kennedi Carter is behind the lens. Jason Bolden styles Amanda Gorman in colorful clothes from Christopher John Rogers, Emilia Wickstead, Kenneth Ize, Lapointe, Thebe Magugu, Tove and more.

Amanda Gorman on Co-Chairing the Met Gala

“Anna Wintour took the time to ask me over Zoom; I was not expecting that at all,” Gorman shares with readers. Having felt previously that the synergy between fashion and poetry was off the radar screen, Gorman sees her co-host honor as key in cementing this connection in the future.

“I think this is really groundbreaking. I’m even more enthusiastic to see all the other writers and poets who may grace that red carpet in the future. And I hope that, when you see my look, you can feel what I’m saying loud and clear.”

Expanding on her use of fashion as a communication vehicle, Gorman says:

“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.” How does she define her own style? “It’s like describing your own voice,” she laughs. “But, if I had to describe my style, I would say that it’s how I feel on the inside. I love clothing that feels young and vibrant and hopeful, but also thoughtful and pensive.”

Amanda Gorman and Prada

Gorman’s relationship with Prada didn’t begin with her yellow coat and red headband on inauguration day. But it put both parties in the fashion limelight. A committed environmentalist, Amanda Gorman had previously chaired a Prada sustainability summit and shared her experience with 10 Magazine in August 2020.

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

Amanda Gorman On Being a Bull in the China Shop

Gorman informs us about the contradictions generated within, as she occupies the space of celebrity limelight. Her loss of anonymity is challenging, as Gorman is thwarted in being the “fly on the wall”, when she is in fact, “the bull in the china shop.”

“I think so often writers are not only used to, but dependent on the sensation that we can go out amongst life and not cause any ripples. That we can watch and observe nature or humanity and that we will be an unrecognized piece of it, and we can write that in our stories,” she says, looking back at her past life, when she was able to watch people in love, families and couples holding hands – and feed those connections into her writing. “[Now], if I go to a bench or park and bring my journal to write, you can bet people are going to say, ‘I think that’s Amanda Gorman’.

Read the entire Kaddish Morris interview at and explore the fashion at Net-a-Porter.