How the Met Gala Lost the Plot

Summary

Podcast Summary: How Is This Better? – "How the Met Gala Lost the Plot"

Host: Akilah Hughes
Guests: Rebecca Sananas, Meredith Lynch, Jonathan Hayden
Date: May 1, 2026

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Overview

This episode of How Is This Better? scrutinizes the shifting meaning, politics, and spectacle of the Met Gala in 2026, exploring how fashion’s most storied night has become entangled with billionaire philanthropy, labor exploitation, and the growing sense that the industry’s fantasy is broken. Host Akilah Hughes enlists journalist Rebecca Sananas, pop culture/politics commentator Meredith Lynch, and designer Jonathan Hayden to dissect the event’s social, economic, and political contradictions.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Met Gala’s Changing Face

• Theme “Costume Art”: The 2026 theme is “costume art”—ostensibly blurring art and fashion, but seen by the hosts as vapid compared to past themes.
• Co-chairs and the Bezos Influence: For the first time, Lauren Sanchez Bezos—wife of Jeff Bezos—is named as a co-chair, representing the growing grip of billionaire networks on cultural institutions ([00:30], [04:12]).
  • Hughes: “Fashion’s most talked about night became a full Bezos production... The most exclusive room in American culture is being co-hosted by a woman whose family fortune is built on warehouse workers and delivery drivers peeing in bottles.” ([00:30])

2. Political & Economic Contradictions

• Fundraiser or Spectacle? The Met Gala is still technically a fundraiser for the Met’s Costume Institute—a resource for NYC residents—but its hosting by figures like Sanchez Bezos raises uncomfortable political questions ([02:55]-[04:48]).
• Philanthropy as a Symptom of Underfunding:
  • Meredith Lynch (former nonprofit fundraiser): “Maybe the problem isn’t the funding. Maybe the problem is all these people who have so much money and aren’t getting taxed properly.” ([04:49])
  • The same billionaires filling funding gaps are often those perpetuating them through tax avoidance and political influence.
• Net vs. Gross Fundraising:
  • Meredith gives insight into how much of gala fundraising is eaten up by extravagant event costs ([06:01]-[07:06]).
  • “Netted or grossed, baby. … The difference... would like make someone cry.” ([06:01])

3. The Cool Kids’ Dilemma: Can the Rich Buy Culture?

• Are Bezoses “Allowed In”?
  • Lynch: “I don’t think they’ll ever be warmly welcomed by the American people, but I do think they are going to be warmly welcomed by money.” ([08:43])
  • Discussion of how the Bezos circle relies on being surrounded by celebrities with goodwill: “All the money in the world and you simply cannot buy taste.” – Sananas ([10:03])
  • Culture clash between the elite donors’ aspirations and the gatekeeping of “taste” (invoking Anna Wintour vs. the perceived tackiness of the Bezoses) ([09:52]-[11:04]).

4. Fashion as a Mirror to the Times—And Its Malaise

• Lack of Political Edge:
  • The days of AOC’s “Tax the Rich” dress are receding. Political statements at the 2026 carpet are predicted to be muted, with only symbolic gestures (e.g., “Ice Out” pins, referencing immigrant labor and ICE) ([13:42]).
  • “If you wear an Ice out pin to the Met Gala, I am going to drag you... because let’s talk about how the Bezoses have helped to fund systems of oppression.” – Lynch ([13:42])
• Fashion’s Dead Vibe:
  • Hughes observes monochrome, forgettable red carpets at recent events: “Are we just in a dead era for color and fashion?” ([15:36])
  • Sananas: “We’re in, yeah, fascist fashion. You know, like, it’s boring out there... We’re all starting to look the same.” ([15:45])
• Commercialization & Blandness:
  • Surge in “Amazon fashion” and brand crossovers with mass-market retailers (Victoria Beckham with Gap) seen as a sign of recession and creative stagnation ([16:41]-[17:31]).
  • “The Met Gala is gonna be beige and unmemorable.” – Sananas ([17:51])

5. The Fantasy’s Collapse: From Devil Wears Prada to Real Life

• Meritocracy Myth:
  • Sananas reflects on how films like The Devil Wears Prada sold a myth of merit-based ascent in fashion ([18:40]-[20:29]).
  • “We don’t buy it anymore.” ([20:29])

6. Jonathan Hayden: The Designer’s Perspective

• Industry Upheaval:
  • “If anyone’s being completely honest, it doesn’t look good at the moment. There’s technological, economic, political upheaval... The illusion is really being popped.” – Jonathan Hayden ([21:40])
  • Retail monopolies (Saks, Bergdorfs) squeeze independent designers, DEI initiatives vanish post-2020, and minority/independent brands are most at risk ([21:40]-[23:21]).
  • “Unfortunately, I think as a country, culturally, we don’t value the arts, and people think of fashion as a sort of frivolous thing.” ([24:09])
• Dependency on Immigrant Labor:
  • Hayden: “Fashion wholly survives on immigrant labor. I don’t think there would be a single brand that could say that they don’t rely on immigrant work.” ([24:52])
  • New York’s Garment District called “a laboratory for American fashion’s ideas”—largely immigrant-owned and -operated ([25:50]).
• Immigrant Labor and Hypocrisy:
  • Hughes notes the contradiction of anti-immigrant policies and fashion’s dependence on immigrant labor ([27:06]).
  • “...the hands that the current administration has decided are disposable... throw a several-million-dollar party run by a woman whose husband cut a check to the man writing the deportation orders. That is... fraught.” ([27:06])

7. Fashion and Politics: Militant Minimalism

• "Fascist Design":
  • The feeling of risk aversion and conformity on recent red carpets (lots of black, minimalism, no boldness) is discussed as echoing broader social currents ([27:50]-[28:35]).
• Signs of Hope or Change?
  • Hayden hopes for red carpet “handwork” and couture that proves a human touch in an AI era ([30:40]).
  • He reflects on the notorious cerulean sweater scene from The Devil Wears Prada—now a documentary, not a warning ([31:05]-[32:23]).
  • “Fashion can’t just be beautiful. It must be better.” ([32:23])

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Billionaire Philanthropy:
  • “The people writing the biggest checks are the same people whose tax avoidance is the reason the museum needs the check in the first place. It’s a closed loop. They underfund the public good, then charge admission to fix it. And we clap because, you know, Zendaya looks great.” – Akilah Hughes ([07:46])
• On “Taste” and Billionaires:
  • “All the money in the world and you simply cannot buy taste.” – Rebecca Sananas ([10:03])
• On Aesthetic Stagnation:
  • “We’re in, yeah, fascist fashion. You know, it’s boring out there. We’re all starting to look the same.” – Sananas ([15:45])
• On Immigrant Labor:
  • “Fashion wholly survives on immigrant labor.” – Jonathan Hayden ([24:52])
• On the Industry’s Reality:
  • “No one has money. And that's why they need the sponsorship and the partnerships... Fashion can’t just be beautiful. It must be better.” – Jonathan Hayden ([31:50], [32:23])
• On the Broken Fantasy:
  • “The fantasy is broken. The cerulean sweater scene is now a documentary. The choices were made for us.” – Akilah Hughes ([32:50])

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [00:30] – Introduction to Met Gala 2026 theme and Lauren Sanchez Bezos’s co-chairing.
• [02:48] – The Met Gala as a fundraiser & NYC political moves; why the mayor is skipping.
• [04:49] – Philanthropy’s contradictions; the tax avoidance cycle.
• [06:01] – Net vs. gross fundraising and the true economics of gala events.
• [08:43] – Can the Bezoses ever be “in” or beloved at the Met Gala?
• [10:03] – Discussion of “taste” and the Bezos wedding.
• [13:42] – Will we see bold political statements on the red carpet? Prediction: watered-down gestures.
• [15:36] – Are we living through “fascist fashion”? The rise of beige.
• [18:40] – Reflections on The Devil Wears Prada meritocracy myth.
• [21:40] – Jonathan Hayden’s assessment of the fashion industry’s instability.
• [24:52] – The fashion industry’s dependence on immigrant labor.
• [27:06] – Met Gala spectacle vs. hands that make the clothes; hypocrisy in U.S. immigration and fashion.
• [28:09] – “Fascist design” and minimalism as reflection of the times.
• [30:40] – Hope for more hand-crafted, human couture in the AI era.
• [32:23] – “Fashion can’t just be beautiful. It must be better.”

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Conclusion

The panel’s consensus is clear: the Met Gala’s increasing reliance on the ultra-wealthy, its disconnect from creativity and genuine statements, and the exploitation underpinning the glamour have all “broken the fantasy.” Still, Akilah Hughes urges listeners to pay attention—to “the dress on Monday and the hands that made it,” because both are telling the same story now. In the current economy and culture, the night is no longer an escape or a fairytale, but a vivid parable of our times.

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Episode’s Final Note ([32:50]):

"Fashion can’t just be beautiful. It must be better." – Jonathan Hayden

Host’s Sign-Off ([34:40]):

“The answer this week, as is increasingly the case: it isn’t, but pay attention anyway. The dress on Monday and the hands that made it are telling you the same story.” – Akilah Hughes

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For more, listen to the full episode or check out Akilah Hughes, Rebecca Sananas, Meredith Lynch, and Jonathan Hayden’s work.

Transcript

[A]

Last night you spent two hours deciding what to wear to the party this morning. It'll take you two minutes to list it on Depop and make your money back. Just grab your phone, snap a few photos and we'll take care of the rest. The sheer dress and platform heels you'll never wear again. There's a birthday girl searching for them right now. Your one and done look is about to pay for your next night out. Or at least the ride home. Your style can make you cash. Start selling on Depop, where taste recognizes taste.

[B]

Yeah, you got that vibe makes em come alive. The first Monday in May, Fashion's biggest night. The Costume Institute's annual fundraiser where America's most photographed people walk up the steps of the Met dressed as the theme of the year. Which this year is, and I'm not making this up, costume art. Yes, costume art as in fashion is art and art is fashion. Profound. Truly the bravest theme since camp. Except actually nothing like camp. But the theme is the story. This year the story is who's holding the door open because for the first time in Met Gala history, the co chair of the evening is Lauren Sanchez Bezos. Yep, that one. The wife of Jeff, owner of the Washington Post, friend of the current president and quietly for years now, a major donor to the Met Gala itself. So this year the most exclusive room in American culture is being co hosted by a woman whose family fortune is built on warehouse workers and delivery drivers peeing in bott. The very same person whose husband flew to a Trump inauguration after spiking his own papers. Endorsement. Democracy dies in the broad daylight of oligarchy, I guess. And the museum it's funding operates in a country where the same administration is gutting arts funding and sending masked agents into the garment district and factories that make the clothes you're about to see on the carpet. I'm Akilah Hughes and on this episode of How Is this Better? I'm trying to figure out how fashion's most talked about night became a a full Bezos production and how much the public can care in this economy. First up, Rebecca Sananez and Meredith lynch who co host the Moment Live together. Rebecca is a journalist, former head of audio for Prince Harry and Meghan, and a self described media girlie who genuinely loves fashion. Meredith is a content creator who covers the intersection of pop culture and politics and crucially for this conversation spent 15 years working in nonprofit fundraising before she went full time online. She knows what these events actually cost to put on and I asked them what storylines they were tracking Heading into

[C]

Monday, you know what I was immediately interested in? Mayor mom, Donnie not going to the Met Gala.

[B]

Right.

[C]

That. That even is sort of a statement right now, because I think something that we forget about the Met Gala is it is a fundraiser for the Costume Institute at the Met. And if you've lived in New York City, like, that is a delight that you get to walk in there for free as a New York City resident and spend all day like, it is a very special place. And I think people forget that. That's what it's for. And so the New York Mayor usually comes. He said he's not coming. And I think in some ways, that's to differentiate himself from Eric Adams, who always looks like such a buffoon. Like, the thirstiest thirst man ever on that carpet.

[B]

Yeah.

[D]

Desperate to be like, these are my friends who invited me. It's like, you're the mayor. That's the only reason you're on the list.

[C]

Like, it is, like, it was like looking at, like, a Batman villain. You know what I mean? Like, he wanted to be there so badly. And so I think there's some of that. And then I think that also, it just speaks to the Met Gala on the Internet, especially in lefty spaces. Has become sort of like the epitome of. Of celebrity excess.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

Which I feel like is new over the past few years. So, anyways, I thought that was immediately the most interesting political story that I've seen come out of it. But I'm curious what Meredith thinks as a. As a Bezos watcher.

[E]

I mean, for me, it's all Bezos. I think it's incredibly interesting to me that the Met Gala is tied to Bezos for many reasons. But one of the reasons I keep coming back to and I can't really get out of my head is that at its core, when it works, the Met Gala is about funding the Metropolitan Museum of Art. That's wonderful. That's great. At the same time, to have it co chaired by Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez Bezos, who have been Trump supporters, who have donated to Trump. And we are watching Trump and his folks slash arts funding project.

[B]

Right.

[E]

How do we wrap our heads around that? I think it's this sort of complicated thing that exists in the philanthropy space of, well, we need philanthropy because, you know, the health care system is stacked against us, and, you know, the education system is stacked against us, and these universities only succeed if they, you know, make fundraising quotas. So it's like, huh, maybe the problem isn't the funding. Maybe the problem is all these people who have so much money and aren't getting taxed properly. So I also just think it's. I don't care if you are my best friend that I've known since second grade. If I see you with Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez, you are done to me. And I think that's why Mavdani is not going. He can't be in a hundred foot radius of those two.

[B]

I want to sit on that for a second. The Met Gala raises real money for an institution most New Yorkers actually use. It is technically a charity event. And Meredith spent a decade and a half running events exactly like it, just smaller. So I went there because if anyone is going to know where this money actually goes, it's her.

[E]

One of the things that I love to say because, you know, I did do nonprofit events for a long time, is netted or grossed, baby. Netted or grossed. Because the difference in the gross and the net on some of the large scale events that I would put together would like make someone cry. Like you'd stand up there the night of the event. And I never signed any NDAs, so I can say this. We would say, hey, this event raised, I'm going to make up a number $2.8 million for cancer research. And I would know that the event itself cost upon hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars in hiring the fanciest event planner in the city and making sure that the, you know, really rich donors had exactly what they wanted in the months leading up, flying to their homes, to private meetings with them to make sure that the event goes well. Right. So all of the things that go into these events are the same sort of like rich lifestyle that these people are accustomed to. And so they're not going to go to the Met Gala if it's like going to like a, a park. And everyone's like, this is a fun fashion show.

[D]

Right?

[E]

Like it has to be at a certain level, but that level has a huge expense. And so I'm sure that the Mel actually does do pretty well in terms of what it it nets. But I do think it comes at a huge cost. And I guess, like, should we really have to live in a world where so much of the gap of what we want to do as a culture and a society to move us forward has to come from rich people opening their pockets after they're barely taxed?

[D]

That's so true.

[B]

Right. And it's also like, I mean, I think it's different in most other countries.

[D]

Like there is just funding for the arts, so they don't have to constantly be begging the people that are being overpaid to like, throw us a few bucks so that we a nice museum in the city.

[B]

Right? The thing the Met Gala is for, funding museums is a thing. We shouldn't need a Met Gala for most countries just fund the arts. We get a tasting menu and a step and repeat instead. And the very people writing the biggest checks are the same people whose tax avoidance is the reason the museum needs the check in the first place. It's a closed loop. They underfund the public good, then charge admission to fix it. And we clap because, you know, Zendaya looks great. Now, about the Bezos, specifically, because the question isn't just whether they're allowed to buy their way in, it's whether they're going to be welcomed once they're inside. Whether the people who actually shape American culture, the designers, the editors, the celebrities with real cultural capital, are going to make room for them or hold the line. I asked Rebecca and Meredith if the Bezos's are ever going to be loved by the American public.

[E]

I don't think they'll ever be warmly welcomed by the American people, but I do think they are going to be warmly welcomed by money. If you look at some of the people who, you know, hang out with them, who are willing to take their money, you look at people like Jose Andres, Eva Longoria, even just the Wedding had so many people there who like, yeah, of course, like the Kardashians were there. But then people were like, well, why is Leonardo DiCaprio there? Right? So I think what they do is they. They surround themselves with enough people who have enough goodwill that people kind of go, well, you know, they've made. They've made it. Now, does that mean that I think that Bernie Sanders will ever, you know, want to sit next to them at a dinner? No, but I don't think they give a. I don't think that they want that. I think they just want the money and the fame and they know that they can, they can play to pay at that echelon. But I also think that the average American is not reading Vogue, but the average American cares who owns Vogue. And those are two different things. And they. No, I don't. I think the average American does not want to see the Bezos succeed.

[D]

Right.

[B]

I mean, at this point, I think that, like, it does feel as if, you know, they're really running away with.

[D]

Doesn't seem like there's an even playing field.

[C]

Can I also just throw something else out there. The Bezos is tacky.

[B]

Yeah.

[C]

I remember, like, tuning into their wedding because, like, I really like fashion culture. Like, it's my, you know, like, I

[D]

just, I'm just curious if we're moving it forward.

[C]

You know, I'm curious. I think, like, I like taste, like, I like to see what it is. That's what I always loved about the Met Gala is like Rihanna with the big gold canary yellow train down. Like, it is beautiful. I love to see it. And I remember tuning into their wedding and I had this feeling. I was like, all the money in the world and you simply cannot buy taste.

[D]

Right?

[C]

Like that wedding dress and that spread.

[E]

What?

[C]

Like, they are tacky and they are tacky, right? Like, I think Anna Wintour has something intangible. Like, she really does have this immaculate, unique, special taste that they simply do not bring to the table. Like, they are tacky and so, like on top. I think that's part of it is I think that Lauren Sanchez Sanchez Bezos thinks that she's going to be able to like, buy her way into an esthetic taste. And, like, if I've learned anything from seeing their wedding photos, you can't buy it.

[B]

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[D]

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[B]

Back to Rebecca's point about not being able to buy taste, they are tacky. There's a reason Melania can put on the most expensive coat in America and still look like a hostage. There's a reason the Bezos wedding looked, no matter what they spent, like an Atlantic City casino. And I think it's because taste isn't a product you acquire. You can't be openly contemptuous and of artists and then expect to look like an artist's muse. Which brings up the obvious question, if AOC wore the tax the rich dress to the Met a few years back and Mamdani is publicly skipping this one, is anyone actually going to push back on the carpet itself?

[E]

I don't think we'll see any bold statements. I think, actually, I take that back. We're going to see people wearing Ice out pins, which I'm going to say, okay, let's talk about that. Right. I'm just warning you, if you wear an Ice out pin to the Met gala, I am going to drag you in perpetuity. Okay. Because let's talk about how the Bezos have helped to fund systems of oppression. So I do think we're going to see some, like, you know, ice out pins. We'll see some of that. We'll see a couple of, like, political statements. But I bet that we're not going to see a lot of those people on the red carpet this year. Like, I don't think we're going to see AOC there.

[C]

Yeah, I was almost thinking the opposite. Like, the way that my brain went is, like, would we ever see Melania?

[E]

There's.

[B]

If she goes, I'm burning.

[D]

I'm throwing my TV off the.

[C]

Do you know what I'm saying, like, she just got. She did her documentary with.

[B]

With her with the B. You're not right.

[C]

When you asked that, I mean, I was like, of course I don't think we're gonna see. Like, I think AOC made a mistake. I think she knows she made a mistake. I think that politicians on the left certainly know, like, Bezos is aside. I think they just know that they. Other than Eric Adams.

[B]

Hold on the ice out pin thing for a second, we're going to come back to that. Because there is no way to talk about who makes it through ICE checkpoints to get a fashion brand's clothes onto a Met Gala carpet without talking about who is actually sewing those clothes and whose hands are at risk right now. But we'll get there. First, the part of the conversation that broke my heart a little about how dead all this feels. I told them what I'd noticed at the Oscars this year. Everyone in black, everyone in silver, Everyone skinny, slick, severe, slicked back ponytails, tiny sunglasses, the kind of red carpet where you walk away unable to remember a single look. I asked them if we're just in a dead era for fashion, if we're waiting out the regime in beige. Are we just in, like, a dead

[D]

era for, like, color and fashion and, you know, big expression? Are we just sort of like waiting for the midterms to try something or.

[C]

That's such a good point. We're in, yeah, fascist fashion. You know, like, it's boring out there. We're so atomized. We're all like, if you look, we're all starting to look the same.

[B]

Exactly the same.

[C]

Everybody's looking the same, everybody's buying the same. Yeah, I think that's a really good point. I think it's like, limited expression, you know, it's.

[D]

Which seems like, you know, for a giant museum piece where they'll be like, these are archival pools. And I'm like, you found the black on black from Chanel in 1994.

[E]

Excellent.

[D]

Yeah. The broodmare long gown from 1949.

[C]

And you can buy a dupe on Amazon prime that will get to you by tomorrow.

[D]

Yes, exactly. I guarantee you we're getting Amazon fashion percent integration.

[G]

Horrible.

[E]

I mean, costume art, too, is like, to me, I'm like, are you going to be like, recreating, wearing things from art? Like, I. That's a very big statement. But I also think, like, right now, what I'm seeing in fashion is like, I just saw, like, Victoria Beckham has a collaboration that's coming out with Gap.

[D]

We're all here yet.

[E]

Like, could we get any more? And she's like, well, Gap is like classic American. I'm like. And you're not.

[D]

You're not. It's like, that's cool. Yeah. So, like, seeing you in an American flag doesn't track for us, but.

[E]

Right. But like, the fact that that's like the big hyped up collaboration right now, I think also something about just like, you know, recession indicator. Not that there's anything wrong with shopping at the Gap, but the clothing stores that are doing really well right now, too, are like, places like Abercrombie.

[D]

Right.

[E]

I think Gap is doing really well, but it's. It's all very muted and understated. So I think you make a really good point. I think the most interesting thing about the Met Gala is going to be the dialogue that happens during and after the day after the Met Gala. That's going to be the most interesting pieces.

[C]

But I agree. I don't even think it's gonna be that interesting.

[B]

I agree.

[C]

It's like the Oscars this year also weren't that, like, I don't remember a single person. And like I said, I love this stuff. And I'm a fashion girly. I love it. And I, you know, I think. I agree. I think the Met Gala is gonna be beige and unmemorable and. Yeah.

[D]

Clean middle parts, like slicked back, a ponytail. The kin. The Kendall Jenner is gonna be very much herself, feeling very much at home.

[C]

Yeah. The 90s minimalism. I think it's gonna be like, you

[D]

know, little tiny sunglasses.

[C]

Yeah, it's gonna be. It's gonna be boring. I think everybody's in their boring era.

[B]

And then Rebecca said the thing that I keep thinking about, because the Devil wears Prada 2 is coming out right ahead of the Met Gala, which is, if you remember the first one, sort of the founding myth of fashion as meritocracy.

[C]

Can I just throw out also another thing that's interesting and, like, you can take this or leave it, but the Devil wears Prada 2 is coming out right ahead of it. And I, you know, grew up in the Devil wears Prada 1 era.

[D]

Loved it.

[C]

I loved it. And I don't think I realized how much I internalized the message that, like, if you work hard and you're plucky and you end up with the right people and you wear the right outfits, all of your dreams will be able to come true. That eventually, at the end of the year.

[D]

Yeah, you gotta, like, eat that one. Cuba cheese.

[C]

I've Seen it, I really genuinely bought. Because the narrative in that movie is that she's like a reporter who wants to do real and important journalism. She gets into to Vogue, kind of loses herself along the way. But in the end, she gets like, the. The blessing of the head of Vogue and she gets to go do the journalism she wants to do. And I can't tell you how much I tried to live that life, that I really thought that that was what was going to happen, that I was going to, like, get into the right places and wear the right clothes and meet the right people, and they were going to, like, touch me on the, on the forehead and I was going to get to do, like, the big, beautiful journalism that I always dreamed of. And now that the Devil Wears Product two is coming out, I'm like, I only want to see the version of that movie where Andy Sachs is sitting on her therapist couch being like, what happened to my life? You know?

[D]

Yeah, Like, I regret my twent.

[C]

I regret it. Like, it didn't turn out, though. And they're still trying to feed us this narrative that in fact, actually it is, and it's beautiful. And you are going to get to wear those clothes and you are going to get to be in those spaces. And I, I think that we haven't caught up yet to a culture that's like, we don't buy it anymore.

[B]

We don't buy it. Hold that. I want to come back to it at the end, but first I want you to hear from someone who is inside the machine that makes the clothes Andy Sachs would have worn. Someone who, by his own description, an anomaly inside fashion. A black, queer, independent designer in New York, training the next generation of designers and watching the industry openly not survive the moment we're in. Jonathan Hayden is a luxury, ready to wear and women's wear designer based here in New York. He's a Texas transplant, nine years deep in the city, and he's done basically every job you can do in fashion. Backstage, volunteer, retail, event, production, design, manufacturing. He's testified at city council on behalf of the garment District. He teaches AI and fashion. He is also, and I'm kind of burying the lead on purpose, my cousin, we figured this out between 23 and me and Instagram. It's a long story. I'll tell it some other time. But anyway, I asked him what the actual landscape of the. The fashion industry looks like right now behind the spectacle. What is the actual landscape of the

[D]

fashion industry these days?

[H]

I would say, if anyone's being completely honest, it doesn't look good at the moment. There's technological upheaval, economic upheaval, political upheaval. And for all its cool posturing that fashion likes to pretend it's immune to the march of events, and it's really not. And I think the sort of illusion is really being popped around all of it. You know, as you're seeing class division in this disparities increase, the sort of access to we sort of purported as a democratization of fashion is really, you know, fraught with maybe a promise that was never real. You see that in retail, where Saks Fifth Avenue has monopolized our industry by buying up Bergdorfs and Niemann. And they, you know, when they. Their president or former president came out and wrote like, a post about changing the payment terms with their vendors, like, over 2,000 brands came out. And we're like, we're out of business because of you guys. We haven't been paid in six months, a year. It was just story after story of brands being upset. And I think from a PR perspective, they just. We're like, we have to claim bankruptcy.

[B]

Yeah, exactly.

[D]

There's got to be a reason we're

[H]

about to get, you know, sued out the wazoo. But, you know, I think it's very telling when you think about a brand like Chanel being able to extend themselves 68 million that they're owed. You know, how is an independent designer. How do they even fathom being able to extend themselves to some, you know, even small amount? You know, for them, a buy could be an existential. You know, one year they're gone.

[B]

Right.

[H]

So I have friends who do stock with some of these larger retailers who tell me, you know, they. When the times got, you know, 2020, 2021, you had all these initiatives that were wanting to be champions for minority designers. And the moment, you know, a lot of that. You've brought it up in past episodes where a lot of that DEI disappeared. Yeah, they shrunk their. They're trying to shrink their buys, you know, and so one of those friends shared with me that when things get tough, that's not the moment you start pulling back support. That's when you actually be showing up. And Chanel or Dior, they. They'll survive if you shrink their buy a little bit. But you need independent designers to keep right in the same way. We want a variety, a diversity of businesses to shop from. You want the same thing from fashion. Unfortunately, I think just as a country, culturally, we don't value the arts, and people think of fashion as a Sort of frivolous thing. So it's an interesting industry that's an intersection of all these different things. Immigration, workers, rights, tech. Yes, it's the Wild west. It's more wild west than people realized.

[B]

Immigration, workers rights, tech. He listed those three almost in passing. But I want to slow down on the first one because right now in this country, ICE is conducting raids in workplaces. And the workplaces it goes after are overwhelmingly the places where things actually get made. So I asked him point blank, how dependent is fashion on immigrant labor?

[H]

I would say fashion wholly survives on immigrant labor. I don't think there would be a single brand that could say that they don't rely on immigrant work. I read this great book from Patrick McGee called Apple in China. And it's essentially like a supply chain book about Apple as a case study. But the parallels to fashion are many other industries that have offshored their work are there. Every pursuit of a cheaper labor force was like another nail in America's manufacturing. And what you see now today is that a lot of American companies have invested, literally invested millions and billions of dollars into other countries that has trained their workers right, all in pursuit of, you know, a cheaper bottom. And now we're kind of at this like fraught moment where it was never about the money, it was about leveraging power in the relationships. And just like the tech sector, fashion is in a place where they're having to figure out tariffs and sourcing. That was why I was advocating for the garment District. When you delve into the history of American manufacturing, New York City's Garment District is really unlike any other garment center in the world because it's, it's, it's sort of been built organically within the confines of a city. Whereas you see other countries totally like allocate a city away from, you know, their metropolitan areas to make. But there's a lot of value in being able to like have an idea and, you know, walk between locations and execute that idea. And I know, I mean, I've heard it described by others as New York City's Garment district as like a laboratory for American fashions ideas. And it certainly works. I would say a lot of sample making takes place here. Like the architecture and blueprints for samples and ideas gets made here before it's then offshored, you know, to another factory. But again, those you, you go into those businesses and I would say a large majority of them are immigrant owned, first generation owned, and a bulk of the, the labor force in those. English is not their first language.

[B]

So when The Met gala happens on Monday and the cameras pan across that staircase. I need you to hold two things in your head at the same. The dress and the room where the dress was made. The seamstress, the pattern maker, the sample house in midtown, the hands. Because those are the hands that the current administration has decided are disposable. And the industry that is utterly dependent on those hands is on Monday night going to throw a several million dollar party co hosted by a woman whose husband cut a check to the man writing the deportation orders. That is, and I want to use Jonathan's word here, fraught.

[D]

That is the word. I watched the, like, Oscars red carpet and I was not impressed. Everyone was wearing their, like, very dark, very bland, very skinny, very. Nothing else looks. And so I'm a little concerned that that's what we have to look forward to, is more fascist design.

[H]

Wait, now I need you to describe for me what is fascist design?

[D]

Right, okay. Well, so again, from my civilian perspective,

[H]

I'm thinking like shoulders and buttons. Like, militant.

[D]

Exactly. You know, I. I would have loved to see, you know, someone take a swing with a collar.

[B]

I think it's just like anything that

[D]

can be, like, presented without offense. Like, it's just very plain, very much

[B]

like, like you have to toe the line.

[D]

I felt that everyone wore black, which I thought was weird because it's like our TVs are in color. So, you know, we have an opportunity to do something interesting here. And of all of the years, I felt that the outfits across the board were just a little bit less memorable because of it. Where I'm like, I do remember that somebody wore silver. I remember a lot of people wore black. But as far as, like, shapes or, you know, risks being taken, I feel that we're in a time in all industries where people are taking it. They're playing it a little close to the chest. So do you think we'll see people maybe branch out? Will Beyonce's presence?

[H]

Yeah, I hadn't thought about it in that way. That's so interesting to think about how, like, how people style themselves to be reflective of the times. I certainly think, personally, I do think people are being mindful about how flashy they're being. I think very few celebrities are able to tow that group, that line of irony with spectacle. No one does that better than. Well, I mean, Lady Gaga is kind of the first person I think of who is really great at, like, understanding the tone of what's happening outside of the event and when, like, as an example, when she did the inauguration it was very, like, Hunger Games capital. Like, the way she even sang the national anthem, I think was, like, propaganda. And she had, like, a gold bird pen from Schiaparelli. And it was very, you know, it was very Katniss Everdeen. They knew what they were doing. That's always the interesting part of fashion that excites me is you have designers who are working within the higher echelons of power and dressing those people, and how are they still fulfilling that demand of, like, quality and couture and execution? But are they saying something? Are they rising to the moment? Are they. Are they simply falling in line and producing something, you know, that's. That pushes no boundaries.

[B]

Yeah.

[H]

Or are they saying something? And I. I wonder, with AI being such a big topic of conversation, like, maybe we. You'll see what I imagine on the red carpet to be a lot of hand work. Couture pushing the human crowd.

[D]

Yeah. Like, proof that a human touched it.

[H]

Yeah. But what I'm more interested in is Devil Wears Prada, too.

[D]

Yeah. See, I want to see what it has to say.

[H]

Well, the movie has the power to, like, go beyond, you know, A Single Evening's Night, the first movie. You know, that scene with the cerulean sweater really encapsulated the entire film as a business, you know, like, that things are being dictated beyond your power. So even what you're. What you have access to or what you can choose in a store was not your choice, you know.

[D]

Yes.

[H]

The choices available to you were made for you is beyond the power in your media life. But I'm hoping with the second film that they really get at sort of the. The fake pageantry of fashion. If you really have the conversations. No one has money.

[B]

Yeah. Right.

[D]

That's the tea.

[H]

And that's why they need the sponsorship and they need the partnerships. And that's why, you know, the media industry is suffering. And you see this shift over to, you know, social and podcast and short form vertical video being like, we all

[D]

have to do it now.

[E]

Yeah.

[H]

That resistance from that older generation to like. Like, accept that that's what's coming. I'm hoping that they get into the waste, into sort of like that fantasy bubble veil. It's. It really, like, no one's buying it, you know?

[D]

Right.

[H]

And so what I've been saying since 2016, I. I did my thesis and augmented reality for the fashion industry, it was that fashion can't be Just be beautiful. It must be better. You know, that's. That's where we're. We're at right now is beyond what we see. I think we're having. We're at a moment right now where we don't trust what we see. We don't trust our eyes. And so we need to know beyond that that there's substance and value.

[B]

Fashion can't just be beautiful. It must be better. Hold that next to what Rebecca said. We don't buy it. Two people who love this industry, who have given it their personal lives, and two completely separate conversations telling me the same thing. The fantasy is broken. The cerulean sweater scene is now a documentary. The choices were made for us. On Monday night, I'm gonna do what I always do. I'm gonna scroll to Getty Images. I'm gonna look at the dresses. I'm gonna text my group, chat about which celebrity wore that, who showed up, who didn't. I'm a hypocrite about this. I love clothes. I love the spectacle. I know I'm not above it. Anyway, I want to thank Rebecca Sananas and Meredith Lynch. Go listen to the moment live. They are sharp every single week. And thank you to my cousin Jonathan Hayden. Go look up his work. You know he's doing the kind of independent design this industry will be sorry that it didn't protect. I'm Akilah Hughes. This was how is this Better? The answer this week, as is increasingly the case, it isn't, but pay attention anyway. The dress on Monday and the hands that made it are telling you the same story. I'll see you next week. How is this Better? Is a production of Courier. It's written and hosted by me, Akilah Hughes. It is produced by Devin Maroney. Video editing is by Shane Verga. The rest of the team at Courier includes Marianne Kuga, Sam Hollows, and Charlotte Robertson. Please subscribe to Follow. How is this Better? On all the platforms, YouTube, Apple, podcasts, Spotify, etc. And tell someone about your favorite episodes. If you're interested in sponsoring episodes or giving us products to try and try to sell, reach out to advertiseurriornewsroom.com thanks for listening and until next time, see ya.

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