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NEW YORK CITY’S MAYOR JUST BOYCOTTED THE MET GALA — AND WHAT HE
DID INSTEAD IS THE MOST POWERFUL STATEMENT ABOUT CLASS IN AMERICA
YOU’LL SEE ALL YEAR.  
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Josh Helfgott
May 5, 2026
Josh Helfgott's Facebook page
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_ While celebrities walked the red carpet at fashion's biggest night
yesterday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani spent the evening spotlighting the
garment workers, tailors, and retail employees who actually make the
fashion industry possible. _

Mayor Mamdani skips Met Gala, calls attention to fashion workers, AP
Photo/Seth Wenig // The Hill

 

New York City's mayor just BOYCOTTED the Met Gala — and what he did
instead is the most powerful statement about class in America you'll
see all year.While celebrities walked the red carpet at fashion's
biggest night yesterday, Mayor Zohran Mamdani spent the evening
spotlighting the garment workers, tailors, and retail employees who
actually make the fashion industry possible.He released a photo series
on Instagram showing six behind-the-scenes fashion workers — people
who have spent decades sewing clothes, fitting suits, and stocking
department stores while the billionaires who profit from their labor
partied at the Met.Mamdani wrote: "While the world's eyes are on
fashion's biggest night, we're turning ours to the garment, retail,
and warehouse workers who keep the industry running. From true love
found on the picket line to a free tailoring school out of a Brooklyn
basement—meet the New Yorkers who make it all possible."The photo
series — shot by New York-based artist Kara McCurdy and published by
i-D magazine — featured six people whose names you've never heard
but whose work makes fashion exist.A master tailor from Saks Fifth
Avenue. A Macy's worker with nearly four decades of service. Tailors
from Pakistan and Mexico running a free tailoring school out of a
Brooklyn basement. A couple who met on a picket line fighting for
workers' rights in the garment district.These are the people who make
the $35,000 gowns celebrities wear for three hours at the Met Gala.And
Mamdani made sure the world saw them on the same night Anna Wintour
made sure the world saw Jeff Bezos.Because this year's Met Gala was
sponsored by Jeff Bezos and his wife Lauren Sánchez.The man who made
his fortune by squeezing warehouse workers, busting unions, and paying
poverty wages to delivery drivers was the honorary chair of fashion's
most exclusive night — a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of
Art that charges $75,000 per ticket.Protesters plastered New York City
with posters reading "Boycott the Met Gala," "Met Gala: Sponsored by
those who support ICE," and "Met Gala: Sponsored by labor
exploitation."Bella Hadid — a model who has attended multiple Met
Galas and appeared on dozens of Vogue covers — liked an Instagram
post calling out celebrities who planned to attend this year's event
while Bezos bankrolled it.Actress Taraji P. Henson, who attended past
Met Galas, publicly criticized this year's event for the same
reason.And Mayor Zohran Mamdani — New York City's first democratic
socialist mayor, elected in a landslide in November 2025 — announced
a month ago that he and his wife Rama Duwaji would skip the gala
entirely.He told Hell Gate: "I want to focus on affordability and
making the most expensive city in the United States
affordable."Translation: I'm not going to a $75,000-per-ticket party
sponsored by a billionaire union-buster while New Yorkers can't afford
rent.This broke a decades-long tradition. NYC mayors have historically
attended the Met Gala as part of their role representing the city's
cultural institutions. Michael Bloomberg went. Bill de Blasio went
once. Eric Adams went once.But Mamdani is not like those mayors.He ran
on taxing millionaires to fund affordable housing. He campaigned on
expanding rent control, protecting tenants, and cracking down on
corporate landlords. He won because working-class New Yorkers were
sick of watching billionaires get richer while they got priced out of
their own city.And on the night the fashion industry threw itself a
party sponsored by one of the richest men on Earth, Mamdani reminded
people who actually keeps that industry running.Not Anna Wintour. Not
the Kardashians. Not Jeff Bezos.The seamstresses. The tailors. The
retail workers. The delivery drivers. The people whose labor generates
billions in profits and gets none of the credit.Mamdani told i-D
magazine: "The fashion industry is made possible by the thousands of
workers behind the scenes—seamstresses, tailors, retail workers,
delivery drivers—whose immense talent and dedication deserves to be
celebrated."The Instagram post showing the six workers got 59,500
likes, 4,500 reposts, and 8,100 shares in less than 24 hours.One
person commented: "This man is pure class—but also pure
solidarity."Another wrote: "Love you so much for not going to the gala
and for spotlighting these deserving industry workers!"A third said:
"this is IT. this is CULTURE!!!!!!!!"And they're right.Because this is
what leadership looks like when it's not bought by billionaires.The
Met Gala raised millions of dollars for the Metropolitan Museum of
Art. That's important. Museums need funding. The arts matter.But the
optics of charging $75,000 per ticket to a party sponsored by Jeff
Bezos — a man who pays his warehouse workers so little they qualify
for food stamps — while New Yorkers struggle to afford groceries is
obscene.Mamdani saw that. And instead of playing along, he used the
same night to shine a light on the people the fashion industry
exploits and ignores.That's not a boycott for the sake of a
boycott.That's using power to shift who gets seen and who gets
celebrated.While billionaires partied at the Met Gala, NYC's mayor
spent the night honoring the workers who make fashion possible.That's
what solidarity looks like.If you appreciate my posts, it would mean
the world if you followed my page. Thank you for being here.

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ROBERTA SCHINE
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Wonderful story. But say their names!

 
SONIA CASTREJÓN: A Mexican tailor who runs a free tailoring school
for mothers of disabled children in her Brooklyn basement.

 
CHRISTOPHER ANDERSON:
A Master Tailor at Saks Fifth Avenue and union organizer with Workers
United.

 
HAFEEZ RAZA:
A tailor based on Coney Island Avenue in Midwood who uses her craft to
support women and teens in her native Pakistan.

 
EARNESTINE GAY:
A Macy's employee and union organizer (RWDSU Local 1-S shop steward).

 
LATRICE JOHNSON:
A former Amazon delivery driver turned activist for the Delivery
Protection Act.

 
LAMONT HOPEWELL:
A former Amazon delivery driver turned activist for the Delivery
Protection Act.

* Met Gala
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* Zohran Mamdani
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* class
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* Working Class
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* fashion industry
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* Fashion
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* garment workers
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* Garment Industry
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* tailors
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* retail work
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* Retail Workers
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* 1%
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* the 1%
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* Income Inequality
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