Anthony Ramos Talks Attending His First Met Gala, Working with Tommy Hilfiger and Landing His Dream Roles
Anthony Ramos chatted with Complex ahead of his first Met Gala and talked about working with Tommy Hilfiger and manifesting his dream roles.
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The Met Gala returned to its regular first Monday of May schedule, and Anthony Ramos was there to take it all in. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Benefit took place on Monday, May 2, in New York City to celebrate the opening of In America: An Anthology of Fashion—the second of a two-part presentation—and the theme this year was “gilded glamour.” This was the In the Heights star’s first time attending the event and he went representing Tommy Hilfiger.
Ramos, who was born and raised in Brooklyn, has been the face of recent Tommy Hilfiger campaigns including Pass the Mic, and he was chosen to represent the brand at the Gala. In line with the brand’s commitment to a future where clothing is made responsibly, all of the looks designed for the Gala this season were made with vintage and archival fabrics, recycled textiles, and repurposed accents. Ramos wore a custom Tommy Hilfiger white tailcoat upcycled from vintage sailcloth, a white cotton poplin tuxedo shirt, and a matching bow tie, paired with navy silk wool tuxedo pants, and a pair of Hilfiger’s shoes.
Ramos’ outfit not only paid homage to the brand’s history but also his. The suit jacket had odes to his birth year, his initials, and heritage, making the design feel more personal to him and his roots. Complex caught up with the Emmy nominated actor ahead of the event and he told us about wearing shoes from Hilfiger’s closet, representing Puerto Rico and New York on the red carpet, starring in the upcoming Transformers and Iron Heart, and how much his career has changed in the past year.
Thank you for chatting with me. I’m sure today is super hectic for you. How are you feeling?
Anthony Ramos: It’s all right. I’m just I’m talking to you and I’m getting my beard done. You know what I’m saying? So I’m trying not to get cut. So forgive me if my words sound a little slurred, just trying to keep my mouth steady.
Multitasking! What was the prep like for you today? Did you go to sleep early last night? Did you get your hair done early?
AR: I just flew in from Canada and I got here. I got fitted. I did my last fitting for my suit and I came back to my apartment because I had to fly super early and I took a nap with my dog. And then, now I just got to this hotel room and I just sat in the chair to get prepped. I’m really excited. This suit came out beautiful.
This is your first Met Gala, right?
AR: My first one. I’m hyped.
What does it mean to you to be part of fashion’s biggest night and also one of the biggest nights for Hollywood?
AR: It’s exciting, you know, you always see the videos and, you see what everybody’s wearing on the news and the next day or whatever it is. And you’re like, ‘Oh wow, that looks like a fun night.’ And then you see who’s there and you’re like, ‘Yo, I love that person. I love that person’s music. I love that person’s movies, all these people you admire.’ So, to be able to be in that room tonight, it just feels good. I’m excited. I’m ready to party. I think it’s just going to be a good time.
Can you tell me a little bit about your look for tonight?
AR: The main character of the outfit, the Tommy team led by Randy [Cousin], they created this amazing jacket made of all sail fabric. So they literally took the fabric of a sail, then they just reconfigured it and created this beautiful jacket. They put these symbolic emblems on the jacket, like the ‘91 on there for my birthday. There’s ‘85 for the year of the conception of Tommy. There’s the USA emblem, but there’s also the Puerto Rican flag on the inside of my wrist, on my right arm with the jacket. Then there’s my emblem, the AR on there as well as Tommy’s on the back. The classic red, white, and blue, with the silk pants, with the black stripe coming down, and everything is sustainable and obviously, that was a big thing, sustainability.
I think the big one for me too, it was kind of the icing on the cake, I was like, “Yo, can I actually wear a pair of Tommy shoes? Like his shoes that he owns.” So, Tommy was gracious enough to lend me a pair of his shoes. I’m wearing a pair of his own shoes.
Are you guys the same size or how, how did that work?
AR: Yo, we’re the same size, it was crazy. I like threw the idea. Yo, what are the chances, right? I threw the idea out in a fitting. I said, “I think it would just be super dope and it would be meaningful if I just actually like wore a pair of his shoes on the red carpet.” And they were like, “Yo, let’s see.” And then, Randy was like, “Yo, I think you guys actually wear the same size. That’d be crazy. But, if I remember correctly, I feel like you guys wear the same size.” And I said, “Come on, man, just double-check, go look at the charts real quick, go see.” And, sure enough, he was like, “Yo, you guys wear the same size.” And Tommy let him get in the closet and pick a pair out. We’re reusing them for another special night.
How did you feel when you put on the outfit today for your fitting?
AR: I felt amazing. We had three fittings. You see it from this beginning and you see it in the middle and you see it in the end. And it just felt like it was just incredible to actually put it on and see the team’s reaction to see how proud they were. And they worked so hard on it. We had multiple meetings about it and what we all wanted it to be. They just hit it out the part yo, and it’s cool when you talk about something and it was one thing to talk about it, but then it’s another thing to actually see it and have it on you and be like, “Dang, wow, this looks super fire.” So I’m just grateful to Randy and the rest of the team, my style is Bobby Wesley like, they all, everybody smashed it, they killed it.
As an actor, as a creative, you understand the heart that they put into these sorts of creations that they make. What was it like working with the team and collaborating with them to create this look?
AR: It was dope because the goal was really like, let’s not just make it right—we followed the theme and it’s going to be fire—but let’s make it personal. I’m the kind of person that if I love a shirt, I wear it all the time. I love a certain chain, I wear it all the time. I’ve been wearing the same bracelets for like a year now. When something means something to me, you just wear it a little differently. So I wanted this outfit to really be meaningful, and that’s where my birth year, we started adding the little touches, and they put the Puerto Rican flag.
I didn’t even know they was going to put that on there. I was just so hyped this morning when I saw it on there. We had to do that. It was like such a blessing. That was the thing that sealed it for me. There were so many things on this jacket. To have my initials and Tommy’s initials on the same jacket, like that stamp together. And again, it was the same thing as wearing his shoes, like I said, I want this outfit to be personal. I want it to feel like a personal piece. I don’t want us to just be like, I’m just rocking this one day and I’m not trying to wear a costume. I want to, it might sound a little cheesy, but I want this outfit to feel like it’s a part of me.
Can you share a little bit about your decision to join forces with Tommy Hilfiger and also what it means for you to be representing such a huge name on fashion’s biggest night?
AR: Tommy Hilfiger that’s New York right there. Tommy Hilfiger was such a big part of the culture that I grew up in as a kid. And you know, it’s funny, they used to ask me, they were like, what was your favorite Tommy piece growing up? And it wasn’t even the clothes, it was the cologne. I loved it. And, I just it means a lot to me because I’m from here, I’m from New York and Tommy Hilfiger is New York. You know what I’m saying? And it started here branched out, and it’s become, he’s become a global name and the brand has become a global brand, but it’s still that feel.
People think of Tommy Hilfiger and they think New York, especially when it started booming with the hip hop culture and so on and so forth. All of that had everything to do with me saying nah like, I really, I genuinely want to collab with these guys and I feel honored to do it and grateful. And I want to just bring that flavor, whatever that is, my culture and the flavor that I grew up with to the brand and to these campaigns and it’s important for me to bring myself fully and integrate it with what Tommy already has going on. So it means so much to me.
One of the most exciting things for me covering the Met Gala over the past few years has been seeing more and more Latinos hit the red carpet. What does it feel for you to be representing Latinos in this event?
AR: It just means everything, man. One of my homegirls she’s from Venezuela, but she grew up in Puerto Rico. She says to me, ‘Yo, mira, papi. Remember, we’re all going to the Met Gala tonight.’ And that hit me a little bit when I was on the ride over here because I was just like, “Man, don’t take this for granted. Like you are really blessed and you’re really doing this, it’s just not about you bro.” I was talking to myself, having this conversation with myself and I just feel proud. There are a lot of people, a lot of our ancestors that would never have the opportunity to go to a thing like this and not only represent their family but to represent their culture at an event like this, at fashion’s biggest night.
I think it’s just one more opportunity to continue to, God willing, just share the beauty of what it is to be Puerto Rican from New York and to be Latino. And to do that in this room, it’s just, I don’t know. It just means everything. It goes without saying, it’s been a lot of years where Latinos didn’t have opportunities like this. I feel proud and I feel grateful, blessed.
We spoke a little bit before In The Heights and we were talking about how the movie has opened so many doors for you and then seeing everything come to life from Iron Heart to Transformers. What has the past year been like for you and what are you looking forward to the most?
AR: You know, it’s just really like continuing to do things. I think the goal is to just keep challenging myself, right? Like, keep striving to do things that I’ve never done before. I know I keep saying I’m grateful and I’m grateful—and I’m looking at the suit right now and this joint is crazy. Yo, they just hung it up. They just hung it up just now this is fire.
For me, continuing to dream big because even if you don’t get the thing you dream of, because you dreamt so big if whatever comes in second of that, it’s still probably going to be fly. I was like, “Yo, I want be the first one of the first Latino superheroes.” I would just say these things. One of my directors said to me, “Yo, bro, I don’t know if there’s ever been a Puerto Rican actor or anything like that has ever led a franchise of this magnitude” when we were shooting Transformers. While we were shooting it, Steven [Caple Jr.]’s mom is from Puerto Rico as well, we were just taking it in like, ‘Yo, this is bananas. Like, yo, we really doing this.’ I don’t know if I stopped to think about those things enough. I think in a way that might be good because it feels a little daunting sometimes. You don’t want to get caught up in, “You’re the first individual.” It’s just more about doing it and doing your best. Then Marvel called. I mean, I’d be doing sit-ups in the gym, cracking jokes to my trainer, like, “Come on, Marvel, call. Let’s go.” And the next thing you know, they called.