Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, investigated by the US Congress for paying late for hairdressing and makeup for the Met Gala

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at the New York Metropolitan Museum gala in September 2021. Jamie McCarth (Gyetty Images/The Met Museum/Vogue )

The annual fashion gala of the Metropolitan Museum of New York (Met) is not only the quintessential global catwalk, but also a sounding board to launch messages and claim ideas.

This is how Democratic congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez understood it in September 2021 (the gala takes place every first Monday in May, but that year it was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic) when she walked the red carpet in a white evening dress in whose Embroidered in red on the back was the phrase

, created by Brother Vellies.

With that wink, Ocasio eclipsed the most brilliant stars of cinema and entertainment, the most famous models and

most followed in the world

But the fine print of glamor - the bills for renting the dress, hairdressing, makeup and the use of a room in a luxury hotel to dress - has haunted the congresswoman ever since, in the crosshairs of the Congressional Ethics Committee from USA

According to an ongoing investigation, whose deadline has been extended, Ocasio-Cortez, a representative of the most progressive faction of the Democratic Party, may have accepted illegal gifts to attend the Met Gala in 2021. Data from the investigation of the Ethics Committee of The House of Representatives published last Thursday, March 2, show the frustration bordering on anger of the providers of hairdressing and makeup services for the event due to payments that were delayed for months.

The dress rental bill and other associated expenses, such as the hourly rental of a room at the luxurious Carlyle Hotel and transportation from that establishment to the Met, were paid months later.

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In statements to the Congressional Ethics Office (OCE), Ocasio-Cortez apologized for "a ball that was getting fat", assuring that it is "deeply regrettable" that the payments, worth several thousand dollars they will be delayed

He attributed the responsibility to a former employee of his team, whom he said he reminded several times of the need to do so.

OCE explained that Ocasio-Cortez appears to have paid for clothing and services provided to her and her boyfriend after contacting her.

But congressional investigators have found "substantial reason to believe" that the policy may have violated House ethics rules.

The invoice shows expenses for the rental of the dress, jewelry, shoes, bag, hairdressing services, makeup and transportation, in addition to the cost, of around $5,000, for the hourly rental of a room in the five-star hotel where prepared for the gala.

However, the investigators say, no evidence of crime has been found.

Ocasio-Cortez, once a great hope of renewal for the Democrats and whose star has been tarnished by the inertia of the

party

—her bad relationship with the mayor of New York, her co-religionist Eric Adams, is notorious—, was invited to the gala by Anna Wintour, global editor of

and factotum of the party and of the monographic exhibition on fashion that opens every year at the museum.

Investigators considered that the invitation to the party, with tickets at $35,000 per head, was admissible, but not the

or perks allegedly received for the staging.

Hillary Clinton, at the New York Metropolitan Museum gala held on May 2, 2022. JOHN NACION (JOHN NACION/startraksphoto.com / Cordon Press)

It was not the first time that someone from the world of politics was on the guest list.

Mayor Adams was seen at last year's call also with a message (the slogan

, embroidered with rhinestones on the back of his ornate tuxedo-frock coat), but with less aesthetic success than Ocasio-Cortez.

Former Secretary of State and former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, a regular at the soiree, wore a burgundy evening gown last year, embroidered with the names of women who have marked milestones in US history, from black activist Harriet Tubman to Eleanor Roosevelt or Madeleine Albright.

As for the

in the Ocasio-Cortez suit, he made his fortune online but also caused a division of opinion, especially among his more progressive co-religionists, who wondered if he was mocking them by bringing a leftist slogan to such an act. elitist (remember: $35,000 per head), and also among conservatives, considering it a display of hypocrisy.

She defended it as a way to spread a message that she believed in.