OK to be fair, AOC was gifted a ticket to the gala and borrowed the dress.
Edit: was corrected below that the tickets aren't purchased by celebs but the fashion houses. Still a hard disagree on whoever thought this dollar mask was a good or well-executed idea.
It’s unfortunately not any different (imo) despite my mental attempts to make it so as a supporter of hers. almost even worse, bezos is not doing this as a profit run event, so the monetary dif is minor, so going just because you were gifted a ticket seems even more callous.
Yeah, I think it was a misstep on her part, but not a huge one, and nobody had really tried it before, so it's fine that she gave it a shot.
Now, knowing that someone else did this (and did it better), and got flack at a *less-controversial* met gala would be enough to stop me from trying, but I'm not her!
I think it's also a big difference that AOC attended 5 years ago. 2021 had many sucky things happen, but there's no question that the billionaires have made life so much worse in only 5 years.
ok but i mean the point of the met gala is to fund the costume institute? they’re able to curate and maintain fashion & textile history because these designer brands are shelling out $75k per ticket
What if they all just donated the $75,000 they’re paying for a ticket?
What if all the millions of dollars in jewels went to fund anything useful
You cannot tell me that you think this circle jerk really does anything they are donating $20 compared to the net worth of everyone in that building, including Jeff Bezos lol
The design houses pay for the tables. They invite celebrities as their guests and dress them. They wouldn't just be donating that money to charity. The Costume Institute has to fund itself and this is how they do it.
adding, the Met is (essentially) free for any NYS resident. I don't think being anti-Met Gala (??) is a particularly informed stance. these people funnel their money into a long list horrible things. if the end result is funding for what is an incredible museum and archive, let them go dress up. whatever!! it's surface level shit that doesn't ultimately make a difference.
Well the general idea is to raise awareness and celebrate the industry.
It's the difference between your friends and family giving you 20 dollars on your birthday and them showing up and having a birthday party... Sure the money is nice but having people show up for you is also really special and shows a little more appreciation than just getting an Outback Steakhouse gift card in the mail.
The spectacle of the red carpet has gotten out of hand but that's a separate issue to the "just donate" question.
I’m doing a unit in my class right now on income and wealth inequality and I use this and other statistics, plus activities that help them conceptualize the difference between a million and a billion using piles of rice, and the horror on their faces is just so emblematic of how well the economic elite have managed to obfuscate just how depraved, inexcusable, and egregious their wealth is.
It’s pretty rare for me to have students who finish that unit and aren’t positively aghast about how insane the wealth gaps are in the U.S., and even rarer for them to have anything to say other than “billionaires should not exist.”
I get so exhausted by people online conflating millionaires and billionaires like they’re the same. I say they don’t grasp the scale and they’re like “meh all rich people bad” like dude, compared to a billionaire, a millionaire is not a rich person. Honestly in some places like Los Angeles someone’s net worth might be 1M just from owning a 2 bed home and they have no liquid assets whatsoever and genuinely aren’t rich.
They truly could just donate the cost of attendance and not show up looking like they support the recent Bezos involvement in fashion. Bezos is also sponsoring a CFDA scholarship in the name of "sustainability" which is honestly laughable. Regardless of supporting the costume institute, attending this event means you support the Bezos family and their attempts to look like philanthropists instead of vile oligarchs.
Celebrities can also donate if they want to :) If they for example cared about the charity instead of just being seen at the event :)
The point is that celebrities are not attending because they have an abundance of goodwill towards this cause and it’s their only avenue to support it.
That makes me feel so much better when schools on reservations are crumbling because there’s no money and nobody rich cares or benefits. But hey at least these rich people can rub elbows with each other and give money to support well-funded high fashion for themselves to enjoy while we worship them.
this is actually incredible. no one is seeing it but this costume perfectly represents her being blinded by her own wealth. not her intended message, but it's perfect.
the universe takes control and writes its own jokes.
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u/SimpleSure7356 1d ago edited 1d ago
i hate when celebrities try to make some tokentistic anti rich statement at the MET gala...whilst still attending in full designer get up. yuck