Opinion
Opinion: Did The Political Statements At The Met Gala Hit or Miss?
Cara Delevingne and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, or AOC, both used The Met Gala as a chance to make political statements, but did it make the impact the stars planned on?
Delevingne wore a simple white trouser, with what appears to be a bullet proof vest reading “Peg The Patriarchy.”
AOC wore a long white dress, with “Tax The Rich” written across the back.
There a few obvious differences between the two, not only in the outfits but in the presenting of them.
Delevingne simply wrote “Thanks for another epic night @voguemagazine ❤️?” and tagged the designers and glam squad she had worked with.
AOC details the origins of her dress, stating the designer Aurora James is a “black woman immigrant designer” and her whole glam-squad is “BIPOC/women/LGBT+ team.”
The stark differences in the presentations could echo the two’s very different up-bringing.
Delevingne is a famous nepotism baby, descendent from British aristocracy whilst AOC from very humble background, growing up in The Bronx, NYC.
If the statements were affective or not has been debated since the night of The Met Gala.
In my opinion, AOC’s hits, Delevingne’s misses.
A criticism of AOC’s has been that she is ‘rich’ attending an exclusive event for rich people.
To me, this misses the point completely.
The effectiveness of existing in a space where others have the same political views as you, and exclaiming “tax the rich!” is very limited.
Almost ‘preaching to the choir’.
Many critical tweets of AOC seem to forget she is one small part of a much larger machine, and cannot have every socialist hope and ideal pinned on her.
Since The Met Gala, AOC has been slapped with an ‘ethics complaint’ for accepting the ticket, which shows her statement made someone angry.
Delevingne’s on the other hand missed the mark completely, which was perfectly summed up by one twitter user;
the most generous reading i could possibly pull from this is “allowing men to enjoy being vulnerable and submissive will dismantle patriarchy” which… no, it can at best free individual men from certain confines of patriarchy
— mr. rager’s neighborhood (@lilgrapefruits) September 14, 2021
Delevingne will have obviously suffered because of the patriarchal society we live in, but feminism is nothing without intersectionality.
Because, at the end of the day she is a rich white femme-presenting person, her grasp on making a ‘statement’ is very narrow.
Delevingne is a former It girl, she made big eyebrows popular again, she literally was the moment in the early 2010’s.
Any designer would jump at the chance to work with her, she could have done so much more.
It also begs the question of who is on her team? As no one else picked up on the flawed message either.
The tone death choice for a rich white person to wear a makeshift bulletproof vest also can’t be ignored.
Anyone with a position of privilege, whether that be down to race, wealth, or gender should use that privilege to uplift others.
AOC did this, Delevingne didn’t.
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