Vogue has released a fawning video of socialist firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her enormous glam squad revealing how they put together the now-infamous 'Tax the rich' dress for her controversial Met Gala appearance.
AOC was coy about her controversial appearance at the ultra-elite Met Gala before DailyMail.com revealed that she and her boyfriend Riley Roberts had their $35,000-a-head tickets comped by the museum. However, this new video shows that Vogue and AOC were partners in the controversy.
The magazine posted a 10-minute video late Thursday night documenting the Democratic congresswoman's preparations for fashion's big night out.
The video follows AOC as she picks up a coffee from a Bronx Bodega while saying she is happy she has stuck to her 'roots', to meeting dress designer Aurora James for a fitting, and being glammed up by a team of hair and make-up artists on the big day - before finally culminating in her arrival at the star-studded bash.
Vogue has released a fawning video of socialist firebrand Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and her enormous glam squad revealing how they put together the now-infamous 'Tax the rich' dress for her controversial Met Gala appearance
AOC was coy about her controversial appearance at the ultra-elite Met Gala before DailyMail.com revealed she had her $35,000-a-head ticket comped by the museum. This new video shows that Vogue and AOC were partners in the controversy
The magazine posted a 10-minute video Thursday documenting the Democratic congresswoman's preparations for fashion's big night out
She is seen getting her hair and make-up done as she says everyone involved in her prep is part of an underrepresented community
AOC tells the cameras how she and James wanted to use the event to 'send a message' and says her attendance is about 'bringing more people into that conversation'.
The New Yorker reveals she 'never thought it would be possible for me to emerge from the fabric of my life experience' to become a politician and wants to show children they too can 'belong' in these spaces.
'This moment is important as I want so many little kids out there looking at this knowing and walking out of this thing and saying I belong there too - I belong everywhere,' she says in the footage.
She recalls watching the exclusive event from the sidelines back when she worked as a waitress in the Big Apple and says 'we have to protect' the ability of New Yorkers to 'freely' visit the landmark institution - despite the irony that Monday night's gala was open only to the elite.
'We have to support not just our cultural institution and our city and as a New Yorker to be a kid from the Bronx or to be from lower Manhattan or Queens or Brooklyn or Staten Island, the ability to be able to freely walk into the Met and see some of the most prized possessions is something we have to protect,' she says.
AOC caused a stir this week after she attended the gala, sporting a white custom dress with the message 'Tax the rich' emblazoned on the back.
Her decision to attend divided opinion with critics accusing the socialist of being a hypocrite and she has since been hit by at least two ethics complaints.
AOC has defended her attendance saying it boosted Google searches about 'our f****d up tax code' and that it was her 'duty as a working-class woman.'
The video shows a large team of hair, make-up artists and designers all working on the socialist's look on the day of the star-studded bash.
AOC insists that the Met Gala is 'not a replacement for my work day it is a supplement to my work day' as she says she has been working on the infrastructure bill that day.
'The Met Gala is going to be my after-work activity for the day,' she says.
The lawmaker says everyone involved in her prep for the event is part of an underrepresented community.
'Aurora and I spoke about this and we said from the very beginning we wanted every single hand involved in this process to be of and from the community and from communities that aren't always being centered and represented whether in fashion or politics,' she says.
'I'm just a super firm believer that when that happens people can really feel it even if they don't see it right off the bat.'
James, who accompanied AOC on the red carpet, tells Vogue the 'most important part is she looks amazing and the message is clear and strong and powerful and needed.'
AOC later emerges from a room in the luxury hotel suite in the designer dress and pristine hair and make-up to clapping and fawning from her glam squad.
Her dates for the night - James, James' partner Benjamin Bronfman, the heir to Seagram's Company Ltd. and son of former Warner Bros CEO Edgar Bronfman, and AOC's boyfriend Riley Roberts - are then seen leaving the hotel to screams and cheers from fans before boarding a waiting bus to take them to the Met.
Inside the vehicle, Riley is seen video-calling his mom to tell them they are on their way there.
'Sandy show me your dress - you look stunning woman,' a voice is heard on speakerphone saying to AOC.
'That's so cool, I love it,' she says as the congresswoman reveals the message on the back.
The video montage ends as the group arrive at the Met to mingle with the stars.
Vogue begins the footage days before the gala with a dressed-down AOC going into a bodega in the Bronx to pick up a coffee, chatting with the bodega owner and a woman off-camera who asks if she is 'making a movie'.
The politician then walks along the streets of the Bronx saying hello to passers-by as she explains how she 'grew up here' and how 'it's really cool to be able to always stay home.'
'I grew up here and about 30 minutes north,' she says.
'My mom was a domestic worker so she cleaned houses and my dad had a small business over here but this is where my cousins and my uncle still lives.
'They're right over there and after college moved right back to the Bronx and I wanted to work with families and kids.
'It's really cool to be able to always stay home to be able to keep your roots here.'
AOC tells Vogue that growing up in New York she has always seen the Met as 'a huge symbolic institution for New Yorkers' and recounted one time being among the people outside the Gala watching as the huge event began.
AOC caused a stir this week after she attended the ultra-elitist Met Gala as a guest of the Metropolitan Museum of Art
The video begins days before the gala with AOC going into a bodega in the Bronx to pick up a coffee, chatting with the bodega owner and a woman off-camera who asks if she is 'making a movie'
The dressed-down politician says hello to passers-by as she explains how she 'grew up here' in the Bronx in New York City
The footage then sees AOC excitedly meeting James in a lavish hotel suite two days before the Met for a dress fitting where they discuss their 'really creative, interesting challenge'
AOC recalls watching the exclusive event from the sidelines back when she worked as a waitress in the Big Apple and says 'we have to protect' the ability of New Yorkers to 'freely' visit the landmark institution
'The Met itself has always been such a huge symbolic institution for New Yorkers and I think coming back to the Bronx after grad school working as a waitress I remember especially one year as I was walking to work and the Gala was happening,' she says.
'I was one of those folks on the fence outside and I remember I always really felt 'man the Met is an institution that belongs to the people.'
AOC says she believes the Met is an opportunity 'to have conversations about the communities we're from' and is about 'bringing more people into that conversation.'
'What are we doing if we are not constantly growing that table and bringing more people into that conversation?' she asks.
'This year's gala is the opportunity to have conversations about the communities we're from, geography, class, race, present events, climate change and in politics there's this classic adage that is 'the medium is the message'. And fashion is the medium.
'That's why it's important that we try to defend that medium when people try to diminish it.'
She adds: 'I'm excited to use this opportunity to also send a message.'
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