AOC Is Just The Latest Entangled By the Lure of the Met Gala

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for attending the 2021 Met Gala after she allegedly broke House Rules by accepting improper gifts.

Ocasio-Cortez, a Democrat who represents neighborhoods in Queens and the Bronx, made headlines when she attended the event in a dress that read “Steer the Rich.” The dress is now the focus of the committee’s investigation, according to a published Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) report March 2, which details how Ocasio-Cortez also received supplies, transportation, and hotel rooms related to the event.

The congresswoman is just the latest Met Gala attendee to face trouble stemming from the annual fundraiser, which has been increasingly lucrative and star-studded, raking in a record $17.4 million in 2022.

In November, the House Ethics Committee launched an investigation into allegations that former Rep. Carolyn Maloney broke House Rules by requesting an invitation to the 2016 Met Gala.

According to an OCE report, Maloney allegedly called Emily Rafferty, the former Met president, after learning she wasn’t invited to the event. Maloney, a Democrat who represented Manhattan’s Upper East Side and retired in 2023, claimed she merely expressed confusion over her invitee status and denied the allegations.

It’s not just politicians who are getting backlash for attending the event. At the last Met Gala in 2022, Kim Kardashian wore an original dress made for Marilyn Monroe, prompting criticism from restorers that the historic outfit was a misfit and has since been permanently damaged.

And in 2017, after a number of Met Gala attendees, including designer Marc Jacobs and actress Dakota Johnson, snapped photos of themselves smoking in the Met’s bathrooms, museum donors and board members raised concerns about potential smoke damage the artworks of the museum. Two years earlier, contestants such as actresses Sarah Jessica Parker and Emma Roberts were criticized for wearing culturally insensitive or stereotypical outfits in relation to the gala’s theme, China: Through the Looking Glass.

Established in 1948 to raise money for the Met’s Costume Institute

The annual gala was first established in 1948 to raise money for the Costume Institute, which merged with the Metropolitan Museum of Art two years earlier. Originally perceived as “an awards show or a fancy dinner, it wasn’t quite as associated with the museum as it is so powerful today,” said Deirdre Clemente, professor of fashion history at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

The event did not take place at the Met until 1971, when Diana Vreeland, the former editor-in-chief of Vogue, became a consultant at the Costume Institute. While the attendees had previously been mostly elite New Yorkers and high-profile fashion publicists, the Vreeland-led gala gradually became more celebrity-centric, Clemente said.

In recent decades, the event, which has been helmed by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour since 1995 and has an annual theme related to this year’s Costume Institute exhibition, has become even more prominent, Clemente said, adding that it’s established itself as The Relationship with celebrities means the Institute is more likely to receive valuable clothing donations from participants.

Meanwhile, some politicians have also begun to gain notoriety themselves, occasionally causing controversy. After attending the September 2021 gala, Ocasio-Cortez was reportedly late to make payments for hair and makeup bills, which the OCE said culminated in a hairstylist threatening to file a complaint with the New York City Bureau of Investigations Submit labor policies and standards for workers.

Ocasio-Cortez was also initially billed for her dress and accessories totaling $2,283, a charge that was later changed to $990 after a campaigner from Brother Vellies, the brand behind the dress, contacted to discuss rental costs. The bill was paid in March, while Ocasio-Cortez paid another bill for transportation and hotel space in May for $5,579.

According to the OCE, none of these payments were made until the OCE contacted Ocasio-Cortez in February 2022 about her attendance at the Met Gala. “But to the OCE opening this review, it appears that Rep. Ocasio-Cortez may not have paid for thousands of dollars worth of goods and services provided to her,” the report said. “If Rep. Ocasio-Cortez accepted improper gifts, she may have violated house rules, standards of conduct, and federal law.”

The matter was referred to the House Ethics Committee in June, which said in December it would investigate the matter but did not provide details at the time.

The late payments were “regrettable” but did not constitute a violation of congressional rules, Lauren Hitt, a spokeswoman for Ocasio-Cortez, said in a statement. “We are confident that the Ethics Committee will dismiss the matter.”