Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the face of the American Democratic left, caused a stir when she attended the Met Gala on September 13, 2021, in New York. The slogan "Tax the Rich" was written on her beautiful white dress created by Brother Vellies stylist Aurora James. A noticeable snub in this legendary Manhattan reception organized by fashion's high priestess Anna Wintour, boss of Vogue (Condé Nast group), and which attracts all the American elite, provided they pay $35,000 (€32,865) for their ticket.
"Tax the Rich": "AOC" was proud of her media coup. "The medium is the message," she tweeted at the time. So much so that she forgot to pay her bills. The United States Congress representative from the state of New York, who is aligned with the progressive senator from Vermont Bernie Sanders, is now in the crosshairs of the Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) for having accepted impermissible gifts that she paid for only when the independent committee looked into the matter.
Details of the investigation were released Thursday, March 2. Among the services received, "AOC" was provided with transportation from her home to the Carlyle Hotel, a luxury establishment where Woody Allen played jazz, a stone's throw from the Met, in order to get ready; a room at the Carlyle; makeup and hair services; a dress, shoes, jewelry and a purse provided by Brother Vellies; and transportation to the Met.
The hairdressing bill, for $477.73, was sent to the "AOC" team on September 30, 2021. It was not paid until the hairdresser threatened, on February 23, 2022, to file a complaint the next day. An effective move: on February 24, the bill was paid. The makeup, however, cost $344.85 and was not paid until March 16, 2022, despite numerous reminders explaining that the bill was "extremely overdue."
The issue of the representative's "Tax the Rich" outfit is more complex, as James and Brother Vellies refused to cooperate with the Congressional Ethics Committee's investigation. What is certain is that the designer sent an initial invoice for $2,283.93 (for the rental of the dress and purse and purchase of the shoes) on September 19, 2021. On September 20, after discussion with the congresswoman's team, a new invoice, reduced to $990.76, was sent.
The representative blamed her team
The ethics committee was surprised that the campaign staffer from Ocasio-Cortez's team who was responsible for dealing with the invoices, "could not explain why the gown rental costs were reduced from $1,300 to $300." In any case, even reduced, the bill had still not been paid in early March 2022, with "AOC's" entourage stating that they did not think they had received the final bill. Things sped up when the ethics committee opened its investigation and contacted the representative. "We will have to take care of this ASAP," the "AOC" team suddenly wrote to Brother Vellies, who received payment of the bill within two days.
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