(CNN) – U.S. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attended the 2021 Met Gala Monday night with a message for Americans in bright red: “Taxes on the Rich.”
Dressed in a white dress with bare shoulders from the Brooklyn-based designer brand Brother Vellies, New York politics revealed the statement, scribbled in bold letters on the back of her dress, as she climbed the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of art.
Making her Met Gala debut, Ocasio-Cortez completed the look with distinctive gold hoops and a pink flower taken from her bun.
Speaking to reporters at the event, he explained why he had brought his message to the Met Gala, an event attended by many of Hollywood’s biggest, richest stars.
“When we talk about supporting working families and when we talk about having a fair tax code, this conversation often happens between working and middle class people (in) the Senate.
“I think it’s time we bring all the classes into the conversation,” he continued.
The choice of Ocasio-Cortez’s white dress echoed the long history of American congressmen wearing this tone in reference to the women’s suffrage movement. She wore a white dress at her swearing-in ceremony in 2019, and later said on Twitter that it was in honor of “the women who paved the way before me, and for all the women to come.” .
Ocasio-Cortez was accompanied on the cream-colored red carpet by Brother Vellies creative director Aurora James, who is known for leading the “15% Pledge” initiative. The initiative, which began on Instagram, urges retailers and corporations to commit 15% of their purchasing power to support black-owned businesses.
There were other messages on display at the annual fundraiser, which raises money for the Met’s Dress Institute and borrows its theme from the museum’s latest exhibition (this year, ” In America: A Lexicon of Fashion “). Earlier, football star Megan Rapinoe was seen wearing a bag that said “In Gay We Trust,” while fellow Congresswoman Carolyn B. Maloney arrived in a vibrant dress covered in text that said “Equal Rights for Women.”
On Twitter, Maloney referred to her bold dress, which celebrates the 19th Amendment, which gives women the right to vote. She wrote: “Across the country, women’s rights are being attacked.”
“As the Met Dress Institute reopens (with its) inaugural exhibition celebrating American designers, I call for ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) certification for women they can be the same once and for all, ”he continued.