Zohran Mamdani and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez may belong to the same ideological family, but the New York City politicians have made opposite decisions on how they want to treat the legendary Met Gala. They see it as two entirely different political theaters, as this year's edition is showing.
The recently appointed mayor of the Big Apple has said he will not attend the 2026 Costume Institute Benefit at the Metropolitan Museum, a notable decision because city leaders have historically shown up at the event. AP reported that his refusal stood out precisely because the gala remains one of New York's most visible gatherings of wealth, fashion, and power.
It may also be about the optics. Mamdani is pushing to tax the owners of a second home in the city, precisely the kind of people that go to events like this and or can afford a seat or a table at one of the most expensive events in the country that isn't a political fundraiser.
AOC chose the opposite strategy in 2021. She went inside the room and made the room wear the argument. Her white Brother Vellies gown carried the words "Tax the Rich" across the back in red, turning one of the most exclusive red carpets in the world into a walking slogan about wealth inequality. Vogue said at the time that the look was conceived as a direct political message, and AOC later became the most famous example of an elected official using the gala itself as a stage.
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Their contrasting approach to the May 4 event is a clear sample of the differences between them. Mamdani's approach is refusal as politics. For him, there is little value in legitimizing a black-tie fundraiser where access itself is priced like luxury real estate. The Bronx representative's approach was infiltration as politics. Her argument, at least in practice, was that if millions are watching, then the spectacle can be hijacked and repurposed. Same broad left politics, different instincts about elite spaces.
And the money is real money. AP reported that for the 2026 gala, individual tickets are $100,000 and tables start at $350,000. The dinner remains invitation-only, with around 400 guests expected. The Met says the Costume Institute Benefit is the department's primary source of annual funding, paying for exhibitions, publications, acquisitions, and operations. The museum has repeated that language across multiple official announcements and in recent years has also noted that the proceeds support other museum activities as well.
Anna Wintour, the longtime driving force of the event, has been the lead organizer since 1995. For the 2026 edition, the official co-chairs this year include Beyoncé, Nicole Kidman, and Venus Williams, alongside Wintour herself, while a broader host committee, co-chaired by Anthony Vaccarello and Zoë Kravitz, helps shape the guest list and event tone.
Financially, the gala is backed by major sponsors, led in 2026 by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, who also serve as honorary chairs, with additional fashion support from brands like Saint Laurent and institutional backing from Condé Nast.
So yes, it is a party for the rich, but it is also a museum fundraiser. That tension is exactly what makes it politically irresistible. The same event can be described as philanthropy in couture or inequality with canapés, depending on where you stand and perhaps on whether your Uber drops you off at the front.
AOC was not the first person to smuggle politics onto the Met steps. Former Mayor Mike Bloomberg has been a regular attendee for years. In 2021, then-Mayor Bill de Blasio attended the gala, along with his wife and son. A year later, then-Mayor Eric Adams attended, wearing a jacket sporting the message "End gun violence."
Vogue's own retrospective on political statements at the gala points to Lena Waithe as one of the clearest early examples. In 2018, for the Heavenly Bodies gala, she wore a Carolina Herrera cape in Pride flag colors, telling she was representing her community. In 2019, she returned in a Pyer Moss look embroidered with the phrase "Black drag queens invented camp," a statement that linked fashion history to Black queer cultural labor.
Carolyn Maloney wore a 2021 suffrage-inspired look and carried an "ERA Yes" purse promoting the Equal Rights Amendment. Megan Rapinoe attended with a clutch reading "In Gay We Trust." Dan Levy wore a Loewe look featuring imagery by the late AIDS activist David Wojnarowicz. Lewis Hamilton made a different kind of intervention by buying a table and using it to bring Black designers into a room whose economics can shut emerging talent out.
Cara Delevingne added another headline-grabbing example in 2021 with a Dior breastplate reading "Peg the Patriarchy." Vogue said she intended it as a feminist statement with a tongue-in-cheek edge, proof that the Met Gala can function less like a charity dinner and more like a slogan machine with excellent lighting.
Still, going political at the Met Gala can be risky.
AOC's appearance has not remained frozen as a perfect symbolic moment. In 2025, the House Ethics Committee said she had not fully complied with House rules related to payments for goods and services tied to her 2021 attendance, including issues involving fair market value and a ticket for her partner. Her office said she accepted the ruling and would pay what remained. That did not erase the impact of the dress, but it did complicate the purity of the message.
Mamdani is avoiding any misunderstanding, because when you are the mayor of New York City, at the Met Gala, even not showing up can become a look
Originally published on Latin Times
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