Kamala Harris makes a surprise Met Gala appearance

New York: That's one way to make a (re-)entrance.

Just days after delivering her first major speech since conceding the 2024 election, in which she condemned the actions of President Donald Trump and warned of a constitutional crisis, former Vice President Kamala Harris was the surprise guest at the Met Gala.

Although a tip sheet of all of the attendees had been distributed beforehand, her name had not been on it, and she sneaked into the gala without posing on the red carpet, according to a spokesperson.

However, even without the photo ops, the message sent by her asymmetric black silk gown with a choker neckline and one flowing white sleeve was pretty clear: "I'm back. Ish."

Unlike the Chloé pantsuits that Harris seemed to have adopted as a semi-uniform by the end of her presidential run, the dress -- an Off-White look designed by Ib Kamara, who took on the brand after the untimely death of founder Virgil Abloh -- was dramatic. It told the story of two sides. It was a return to the more inclusive dressing strategy that Harris demonstrated during the 2021 inauguration events, when she wore work by all Black designers. And it will probably be controversial.

"To me, the true core of dandyism is rooted in confidence and strength," Kamara said. "There is no person who exemplifies these characteristics more than Kamala D. Harris, someone who has overcome adversity and continues to be a beacon for so many."

Still, political figures are relative rarities at the Met Gala, which tends to over-index on celebrities of all kinds -- from Hollywood, in sports, from the art world -- and the fashion brands that love them.

Attending the Met Gala can be a fraught decision for any elected official, given the cost ($75,000 a ticket) and its association with coastal elitism and fame. For a Democratic politician such as Harris, who critics believe lost November's election in part because she and her party were seen as out of touch with the middle of the country, it is especially complicated.

Rep Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, made a splash when she attended the event in 2021, in a gown blaring the message "Tax the Rich." But there was more discussion over whether she should have been at the party in the first place, given her progressive positions, than there was about the point made by her dress. When New York Mayor Eric Adams appeared in 2022 wearing a tailcoat with the words "End Gun Violence" on the back, it prompted much the same reaction.

Which is to say that Harris' arrival was also a political calculation.

The exhibit that the gala celebrates, "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style," explores the history of the Black dandy and is the first costume institute show to include only designers of color. Honoring that event allowed Harris to recognize her community and her roots; according to a news release, her look was inspired by "the Black men who helped shape her childhood and were some of her first fashion influences."

Those men included her Uncle Freddy, whom she would visit in New York, where he worked at the Studio Museum in Harlem and who she said "had incredible style, confidence and swagger."

Attending the event (she was accompanied by her husband, Doug Emhoff, who wore Brunello Cucinelli) also allowed her to align herself with an exhibit that seems to represent an unspoken riposte to many of the values espoused by Trump.

Additionally, Anna Wintour, the mastermind of the gala and the gala's guest list, is a powerful Democratic fundraiser who held an event for the Biden-Harris campaign during Paris Fashion Week in March 2024. As the editor of Vogue, she also put Harris on the magazine's cover in 2021 and on its digital cover in October, after formally endorsing her in July.

Whether Harris' appearance at Wintour's greatest shindig is a bit of mutual back-scratching or the start of her next act (or both) is the question.