Let's Talk About the Met Gala
Youthquake Returns
The TGIF lineup differs from the societal mores or our sincerely piqued interest in frivolous diversions during these politically wild and tumultuous times. In Youthquake’s return essay, we dive into the beautiful and destructive catharsis of feminine rage. Get into it below.
Let’s Talk About the Met Gala
After last year’s initial devastation by the pandemic, the 2020 Met Gala was canceled like most publicly held events.
In America: A Lexicon of Fashion exhibition will open on September 18th, while the main event is still trending (last I wrote this) on social media (next year’s theme is In America: An Anthology of Fashion, which falls on the first Monday of May). The theme celebrates American designers and awareness of cultural, social, and political issues.
The main one was the fact that the American fashion community has been supporting us for 75 years, really since the beginning of the Costume Institute, so I wanted to acknowledge its support, and also to celebrate and reflect upon American fashion. Andrew Bolton, the curator in charge of the Costume Institute, told Vogue.
Without seeing the contrast in hosting such a night of social and political messages a year into the ongoing pandemic and major media reckoning, I’d be remiss. What’s more reflective of American fashion than looking the other way? Home-hitting social and political issues occurred outside the iconic Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City with the NYPD. Realistically harsh to such fun, stylized concepts on a night out dedicated to fashion artistry, which I normally welcome. Especially during these dark times, I’d relish giving my best budget-friendly version of Miranda Priestly on Twitter for my facetious takes. Yet, as the Costume Institute had part one of its two-part themes last night with the celebrities flowing like champagne bubbles, there was a rancid distaste with not only some underwhelming looks. Also, the particular sorts of loaded political messages from ‘backslash activists’ bear the thought— is this the fashion panhandling version of Do They Know It’s Christmas, or We Are the World, but for anti-capitalism and feminism?
It’s questionable that American politicians like New York Rep. Congresswomen Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Carolyn Maloney attend with vibrant messages of “Tax the Rich” and a Suffragette-Themed “ERA YES”— at an event accompanied by mainly Hollywood’s biggest and wealthiest fashion powerhouses. Also, somehow online ‘Influencers’ for that extra spice of the youth demographic, none of which I’ll name. I will clarify that I support and stand for the messages of activism, although I’m less ‘Tax the Rich’ and more, well— click here to see.
“When we talk about supporting working families and when we talk about having a fair tax code, oftentimes this conversation is happening among working and middle-class people (on) the senate floor. I think it's time we bring all classes into the conversation. It’ about fairness and equity in our system and I think that this conversation is particularly relevant,” Ocasio-Cortez said for the inspiration behind her aimed statement.
Though many attendees are given exclusive invites by former Vogue editor-in-chief and now Conde Nast’s chief content officer— it’s been held every year since 1948 to raise money for the Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. It’s no secret that designers and fashion houses host attendees (actors, athletes, and general muses) or purchase tables for hundreds of thousands of dollars from the designers who dress them. Despite that, Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney wore a striking Beirut-born couturier Ghassan Antonios. Meanwhile, Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez’s representation of Toronto’s expat, now Brooklyn-based designer Brother Vellies (Aurora James), is stunning with the ethically made and sourced white off-the-shoulder mermaid gown in her signature Latin/a/e/x gold hoops and a red lip. After Ocasio-Cortez intended to carry the message into a wealthy space and “borrowed the dress” from designer Aurora James because “while the Met is known for its spectacle, we should have a conversation about it.” Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez is right; there should be a crystal clear conversation about their attendance along with Mayor Bill de Blasio. Vogue or Conde Nast didn’t give all three free tickets to the charity event. Yet all were happy to be in attendance with something to say but stayed mum without further discussing or revealing who footed their bill (*Update: The Daily Mail report that the Museum invited Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez).
Nevertheless, both congresswomen are elected officials that may have been invited to highly publicized events to support charitable events. Understandably, the messages were aimed to spark conversations around classism and Women’s Rights but were muddled by the opulent celebrity event, with tickets being $30,000 in an ongoing pandemic from an elected official. Lest we forget, Ocasio-Cortez’s grassroots movement occupied and gentrified the socialist movement into an Americanized version for user-friendly consumption.
Raising valid questions of ethics towards elected officials is crucial in a critique. Politicians seem to know that history repeats itself, as Americans see no real change occurring in our divided nation. There appears to be much talk from ‘The Squad’ members about change, yet where is it? There’s hardly any shift except to uphold further those in power with the status quo instead of changing it. The ‘Yasssification’ of politicians is a complete oddity as these are citizens hired to do the elected job. Still, the newest trend is skating by with surface-level depth that blurs the lines of nuance if any rational questions are raised. The freshly fallen political world order remains deadlocked on both sides as finger-pointing rather than any radical or direct action as overly critical or purity-signaling for merely questioning an elected official. Especially when Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez voted ‘Yes’ to raise military spending to a record $738 billion, riding the waves of populism without overthrowing or causing effectual change is just as bad as the grifters and former Presidential administration.
“The Met Gala is obviously one of the most exclusive events in the world, and we wanted to come and deliver a message. And I think when we talk about inclusion and gaining access to closed rooms for people of color when you finally get a seat at the table you have to decide what the message is that you want to deliver," James said. "I think for the congresswoman, I think for myself, economic equality and economic justice is sort of top of mind.”
Saving face and posing for the most exclusive fashion event of the year for the cameras with a message about “classism” or pro-arts as attendees deduct extravagant opulence from their taxes while adhering to an anti-capitalist and anti-imperialist message of socialism seems to be forgotten. This multilayered snafu only continues to show the peddling and consumable version of capitalism for the upper-middle-class instead of focusing on the working class, who continue to struggle.
Contrarily, Republicans still aim to vilify Congresswoman Ocasio-Cortez while other elected officials escape targeted racism and vitriol for agenda-pushing lobbyists. Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney isn’t a stranger to attention-grabbing ensembles for sending messages. During former President Bush’s administration, she praised the administration “for balancing war with compassion” and “for dropping food, as well as bombs,” all the while dressed in a burqa. Her demographic will never have trouble wearing this as Muslim women are demonized and reduced to trite stereotypes to push fearmongering rhetoric. The actual villains towards the American people during a pandemic (and before) aren’t lost on many; it’s the real U.S. elected officials squawking for bipartisanship while achieving none.
U.S. Senators Joe Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema should be recognized for their resistance to any compliance with the economic package, delaying assistance to the American people while increasing financial worries; in an ongoing pandemic.
“The two senators — Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona and Joe Manchin III of West Virginia — have repeatedly said they will not support a measure so costly, imperiling the chances of a plan that will require the support of all Senate Democrats to pass” via the New York Times.
Additionally, Thomas Jones of the American Accountability Foundation is right on cue, who filed an ethics complaint to investigate Ocasio-Cortez’s attendance.
Even as fashion’s biggest night out is celebrated, just outside the real-life reminder set in with parasocial relationships with public figures we admire online like the vocal Congresswoman AOC. Ocasio-Cortez’s ‘defund the police’ pleas have been reduced to performative hollow gestures; countless protestors were taken as political prisoners for expressing their First Amendment right. It’s a needless but important reminder that the police are meant to protect citizens, not be trigger-happy in their quest to alleviate; instead, police continue to prop up and uphold their positions of power by continuing to harm communities of color. None more evident than that night as rightful protestors were taken as political prisoners for expressing their First Amendment right to protest the event for class solidarity and the Black Lives Matter Movement, specifically to protest the recent killing of Mike Rosado, a Bronx man murdered by off-duty police.
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Outspoken celebrities using their platforms for activism have become decadent and performative. Still, it mostly shows how selectively capable they are when they speak out on particular issues while ignoring systemic issues like racial and economic oppression that affect communities mere feet away from the luxury. For example, Cara Delevigne’s supposed feminist take with ‘Peg the Patriarchy.’ Given her familial history of violent colonialism, it’s an interesting choice. Delevigne’s grandfather was second in command for the Black and Tans created by none other than the historically brutal Winston Churchill. Coincidentally, Delevigne assigned herself an Irish accent for no reason for her character role in Amazon’s 2019’s Carnival Row. While the past sins of her relatives are just that, Delevigne’s performative expression is also just that. Thinking that ‘pegging’ the patriarchy is a radical expression conversely, as society’s broken patriarchy continues its war on women— why would we want to help enable a consensual, sexually pleasurable experience for men who continue to mess women over? Moreover, fashion powerhouse Dior allegedly ripped off the design from a sex educator/artist and Queer Woman of Color, Luna Matatas, known for the trademarked phrase.
Elliot Page gave a beautiful homage to Queer icon and eternal romantic Oscar Wilde. More importantly, Elliot Page, Janet Mock, Nikkie de Jager, and Indya Moore’s mere presence at the Met Gala, being their true beautiful selves, is a touching and historic moment.
I did have plenty of thoughts on fashion’s Super Bowl but mostly admiration for these works of art below. Not pictured are the few men that weren’t letdowns, like Alton Mason, Dan Levy, Jeremy Scott, Law Roach, Evan Mock, Leon Bridges, Maluma, and Troye Sivan.
Images via Vogue Magazine.
Lil Nas X, who understood the assignment before Vogue gave it, is the true MVP of the Met Gala.
Lil Nas X. Image via Page Six.
It’s easy to see why the NYPD brutalization of the Met Gala protests has been pretty silent except on social media, with supporters and comrades boosting political prisoners that haven’t been heard since their arrest. The brutalization outside the Met further ignites the District 12 comparisons of a faraway fictional dystopian nightmare that doesn’t seem all that far away anymore.
Con Amor,
Naomi x