AOC's Inappropriate 2021 Met Gala Outfit Will Always Haunt Her

One of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's most controversial moments came at the 2021 Met Gala. That year, the high-profile event's theme was In America: A Lexicon of Fashion, and the Congress member sported a white body-hugging gown designed by Aurora James of Brother Vellies. It was an off-the-shoulder piece with a trumpet silhouette that accentuated AOC's curves before flaring out at the bottom in layers of organza. The fit and look were not why Ocasio-Cortez's Met Gala dress was so controversial, however; it was a slogan reading "Tax The Rich" written in bold red lettering across the back that had heads turning. The politician walked the red carpet of the event alongside James and made sure to turn her back to photographers, pausing so their cameras could catch the statement-making slogan.

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Following the Met Gala, the politician's detractors attacked her online for using the prestigious fashion gala to spread her "Tax The Rich" messaging. Taking to X, Donald Trump Jr. called AOC a "fraud" who was "hanging out with a bunch of wealthy leftwing elites."

Hearing the backlash about attending a function where tickets cost around $35,000 while wearing a pricey gown, Ocasio-Cortez took to Instagram to clear the air. "The medium is the message," she wrote at the beginning of a lengthy caption alongside a snap that showed her wearing the Met Gala dress. According to AOC, it was common for New York City politicians to attend the celebrity-soaked function. She added that the gown was "borrowed" from Brother Vellies. Still, the dress was so attention-grabbing that Ocasio-Cortez wound up being investigated for it.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez not only received blowback from right-wing Trumpsters, but the "Tax the Rich" dress also raised eyebrows for some people on the other side of the political spectrum. Vanessa Friedman, the fashion director for The New York Times, had a viral tweet calling AOC's decision to attend the pricey Met Gala in a custom-made designer gown a "complicated proposition." This led to people both defending the Congress member and attacking her online. "Hypocritical virtue-signaling isn't really that 'complicated,'" one X user responded. All of this led to a lot of attention pointed towards AOC.

The dress wound up being one of the most inappropriate outfits a politician was caught wearing, as the headline-making dress drew the attention of the Office of Congressional Ethics. In March 2023, it officially launched an investigation into what was gifted to her for the Met Gala. "If Rep. Ocasio-Cortez accepted impermissible gifts, then she may have violated House rules, standards of conduct, and federal law," the OCE wrote at the time, per BBC. 

Nearly four years after she donned the dress, it was ruled by the OCE that Ocasio-Cortez had failed to pay back vendors she borrowed from in a timely manner, and she still owed over $2,700. "While the Committee did not find that Representative Ocasio-Cortez's violations were knowing and willful, she nonetheless received impermissible gifts and must bear responsibility for the other conduct that occurred with respect to the delays in payment," OCE wrote in a report released in July 2025. It should be noted that AOC did not appear at subsequent Met Galas, as the blowback from 2021 likely satiated her appetite for attention at that event.