The presence of politicians at the Met Gala is nothing new—legislators including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Hillary Clinton, and Carolyn Maloney have all attended in the past—but this year, New York City council member Chi Ossé brought a whole new level of style to the proceedings in a custom look from Advisry.
This year wasn't Ossé’s first Met Gala. The 25-year-old politico and NYC Chair of Cultural Affairs attended last year’s gala in a velvet paisley House of Aama suit topped off with footwear and jewelry from designers hailing from the Brooklyn district that Ossé represents. This time around, though, Ossé’s look paid homage to Met Gala honoree Karl Lagerfeld. “I was able to work with the designer Keith Herron, a young, Black creative who designs and runs the brand Advisry,” Ossé says, “and the garment that he put together—which referenced Karl’s 1983 Chanel collection, as well his own take on fashion—was just the most comfortable garment to wear. I felt amazing in it and received a lot of compliments.
“Keith and I were looking through Karl’s looks from his entire career, and the first idea I had was wanting to do a take on the iconic tweed suit that he made for women,” Ossé continues. Once his look was set, Ossé ushered in his second Met Gala attendance with a red-carpet confab with none other than Ice Spice. “We took a video together,” he recalls. “It was her first Met Gala, and we ended up chatting and then hanging out for the rest of the night; so, yeah, I got to hang out with the People’s Princess!” (File this one under: iconic collabs.)
Ossé admits he felt a bit like a “fish out of water” at his first Met Gala last year, but this year’s event was much easier for him. “I think the Met Gala sometimes receives a controversial reputation, and people love to write think pieces about it, but as chair of the Committee on Cultural Affairs, my job is to champion our cultural institutions that act as economic powerhouses for our city,” says Ossé. “That’s where my mindset was this year, and I think that difference in how I approached the evening really helped me to enjoy myself in a way that I might have struggled with the year prior.”