Here’s what was said about Mamdani at the Met Gala

Two icons came face to face at the Met Gala Monday night: longtime politico Gale Brewer, forged in the fires of New York City government, and Stanley Tucci, forged in the fires of Hollywood.

“I like him,” said Brewer, whose all-white outfit was inspired by American artist Robert Indiana. “I like his Italy cooking program.”

So it goes at the annual Met Gala, the gilded fundraiser held in one of New York City’s oldest and most iconic cultural institutions. Sprinkled among the A-list celebrities and the cultural titans, a rotating collection of New York City politicians also hit the red carpet each year having been offered free admission as guests of the Met. 

Many, like first-time attendees City Council Speaker Julie Menin and Comptroller Mark Levine used it as an opportunity to highlight local designers, donning ensembles that might not have placed them on the top of any “most on-theme list,” but spotlighted work from New Yorkers who aren’t yet household names in the fashion world. In prior years, some politicians have used it as a chance to drape themselves in political messaging, like then-Rep. Carolyn Maloney’s gown paying homage to the suffragette movement and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s eyebrow-raising “tax the rich” dress in 2021. At the same time, longstanding discourse around elected officials crossing into the world of celebrity took on added bite at this year’s Met Gala given Jeff Bezos’ controversial appointment as an honorary chair as well as broader enmity toward the uber wealthy.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani skipped out on the festivities, likely to avoid the inevitable discourse about a democratic socialist cozying up with the city’s elite. Rather than appear in pictures with the Kardashians or Lauren Sánchez Bezos, the mayor further created distance between himself and the star-studded event by releasing a spread of photos that highlighted six New Yorkers helping to power the city’s fashion industry behind the scenes. In true Mamdani form, he attributed his decision to not attend to his focus “making the most expensive city in the United States affordable,” Hellgate reported.

He’s not the only one to steer clear. While Mike Bloomberg was and is a Meta Gala regular (attending once again Monday night, true to form), Bill de Blasio’s lone appearance was in 2021, his final year as mayor. Eric Adams, the self-dubbed “nightlife mayor,” made a statement at his first and only Met Gala by donning a custom tuxedo with the words “End Gun Violence” emblazoned on the back. 

“In general, it’s not a natural place for any mayor in my view – especially a mayor who is focused on affordability and the needs of working class people, because it’s kind of the epitome of an elitist event,” de Blasio said, explaining that he only attended in 2021 because it had been a post-pandemic event celebrating the city’s recovery. “For any mayor it’s really about not getting lost in that stuff. The world of celebrities and fancy dinners and fancy events can be intoxicating – that’s one of the things I give Mamdani a lot of credit for, I think his feet are very much on the ground.”

Unlike in the Adams and de Blasio years though, no one represented the administration in the mayor’s absence. Neither Parks Commissioner Tricia Shimamura nor Cultural Affairs Commissioner Diya Vij attended. Nor did any other officials in the Mamdani administration, according to Dora Pekec, a spokesperson for the mayor.

Brewer, who has garnered multiple invites to the Met Gala over the years thanks to the location of her Upper West Side district, said that the Mamdani administration’s absence was felt. “It came up a lot,” she said, adding that she thinks there should have been some sort of representation from the mayor. “It’s all about economic development to me. Those clothes, somebody sold them … The hotels, the restaurants.”

According to Brewer, the absence didn't sit right with the Rev. Al Sharpton either. Asked whether he’d encouraged the mayor to come, a representative for Sharpton said the civil rights leader had recently brought up his own plans to attend the Met Gala while meeting with Mamdani and faith leaders. While Sharpton had raised the importance of uplifting diversity, pointing to the fact that Beyonce and Venus Williams were co-chairs for the event, he hadn’t directly asked the mayor to attend, they said. 

When asked by NY1 on the red carpet about Mamdani skipping, Sharpton said “that’s his decision.” “We’ve fought for years … for diversity, so how can I not be here to support Beyonce and Venus Williams?” he said. “I don’t care how much money the billionaires have. They can’t buy my seat.”

With the city’s biggest political star sitting out, it was left to a handful of City Council members and Levine to hold down the fort for the city’s elected officials. With the exception of Brewer, it was all of their first times.

To that point, Council Member Nantasha Williams, who scored the customary invite extended to the chair of the council’s cultural affairs committee, said the evening proved to be far less stuffy than she expected it to be. “Like everyone always says, people who have a lot of money, celebrities, they’re all humans at the end of the day,” she said. While the prospect of navigating the stairs into the Met in her dramatic black and white gown designed by Haitian designer Jovana Benoit had been initially intimidating, she’d conquered them without issue. “I don’t know why, but literally after I finished the steps, my anxiety went down like 98%,” Williams said. 

Menin wore a long black gown from Patricia Voto, a designer based in the Upper East Side who uses repurposed fabrics to make sustainable designs. According to a spokesperson for the speaker’s office, Menin selected her to highlight a woman-owned small business based in New York. Levine wore a navy blue tuxedo by Bond & Bari Bespoke, another woman-owned local business. For his bow tie, he selected a piece crafted by Japanese designer Seigo Katsuragawa. 

Council Member Virginia Maloney, whose Upper East Side district includes the Met, was the most committed to this year’s “Fashion is Art” theme. She wore a short sheer cape and a long black gown crafted by Natasha Das, a local designer who left finance to start her own fashion line. This dress, according to Maloney, was inspired by the Broadway play Wicked – the intricate roses creeping up its hem representing “growth upward, which is defying gravity.” 

“Her work represents to me what New York does best,” Maloney said. “Turning ambition, craft and culture and reinvention into something that the world pays attention to.”