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When Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, alongside powerful designer Aurora James, walked the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art on Monday night, a remarkable but succinct political message rang out from the back of her soft cream-colored dress: TAXEZ THE RICH.
This isn’t exactly a new cause for Ocasio-Cortez. In January 2019, for example, she suggested that a marginal tax rate of 70% could be imposed on the wealthiest Americans. But now she was sending the message through the front door of one of the most glitzy events of the year: the Met Gala.
“When Aurora and I were first partners, we really started having a conversation about what it means to be working class women of color at the Met, and we said, ‘We can’t just play the game, but we have to break the fourth wall and challenge some of the institutions, ”AOC said on the red carpet. “Although the Met is known for its show, we should be having a conversation about it.”
In other words, the dress was meant to push the conversation about taxing the rich in a wealthy space, to confront the wealthy where they live (or gala).
I don’t think it worked.
From questioning notions of masculinity to positioning Darkness as divine in a society that demonizes it, fashion has always been a means of political expression and, often, a means of meaning. When Billy Porter wore a beautifully tailored tuxedo jacket over a ball gown at the 2019 Oscars, it worked because it was an exploration of his masculinity and femininity. When Solange donned a black durag adorned with a golden halo, it worked because she invoked several black American spiritual practices and transformed a fashion item that blacks are demonized for wearing into something that looks like God. The power of these moments is evident in the fact that the carriers are not trying to force an institution in which they exist to change. They navigate and embrace their identity instead.
But Ocasio-Cortez is an elected official. She has tangible tools to work with, so a dress with a phrase on it (designed by a woman who is apparently dating billionaire son Edgar Bronfman Jr., btw) is a weird choice. As cultural writer Shamira Ibrahim writes:
If anything, Ocasio-Cortez’s dress featuring what has, at this point, become a “Regurgitated Twitter discussion point, felt more naive, even past, than iconoclastic. It is one thing to demand higher taxes from the rich; it is quite another to believe that moving among the upper class will convince them to welcome a substantial tax cut. It’s also woefully incompatible with the world outside of the Met, the one that gave Ocasio-Cortez his power. Last night, black protesters were arrested outside of the event, for example, as they asked Mayor Bill de Blasio to fund the NYPD.
But, alas, much of the political gesture that occurs on a publicly well-funded stage is meaningless. Like most other outfits with writing at the gala (yes, there were more), Ocasio-Cortez’s dress is a superficial display meant to capture attention. That way it’s a win. But when it comes to demonstrating tangible results for voters, I find it hard to believe that a slew of wealthy celebrities will do more than poke fun at the MP’s slogan dress and, just by being close to ‘she, I think that’s enough to signal that they’re on board. Giving them this opportunity is not at all the same as doing something about income inequality, which is, after all, its job.
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