Bevy Smith calls out 2021 Met Gala for lack of Black designers

By Biba Adams

·September 14, 2021

Author and TV personality Bevy Smith took to social media to decry the lack of Black designers showcased at the annual fashion costume event, the Met Gala, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York on Monday night.

“A lot of boring looks, it’s the #MetGala,” Smith wrote on Twitter. “go big, extravagant or stunningly on theme, American Fashion didn’t begin with #OldHollywoodGlamour ugh.”

Bevy Smith poses for cameras at the “Legends Of The Underground” screening at the 2021 Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival last month in Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts. (Photo: Arturo Holmes/Getty Images)

“Black people with access have become far too staid & safe we know how to do too much, be extravagant, but then it’s deemed ghetto until fashion “finds” it,” she added.

The former co-host of Fashion Queens later wondered, “And why no American Black designers, this is how you can tell that all that #BLM support was performative, if this was 2020 Black designers would have flooded the #MetGala carpet.”

Black people with access have become far too staid & safe we know how to do too much, be extravagant, but then it’s deemed ghetto until fashion “finds” it https://t.co/90l91l1xHq
— bevysmith (@bevysmith) September 14, 2021

And why no American Black designers, this is how you can tell that all that #BLM support was performative, if this was 2020 Black designers would have flooded the #MetGala carpet
— bevysmith (@bevysmith) September 14, 2021

We should be EVERYWHERE because fashion is a BUSINESS https://t.co/rYWbxBFGBy
— bevysmith (@bevysmith) September 14, 2021

One fashion site noted, “From my count: Keke Palmer & Megan Rapinoe in Sergio Hudson, Ilana Glazer & Kehlani in Aliette, Eva Chen & Jordan Alexander in @cjrtheperson, Sha’Carri in Theophilio & Brandon Blackwood, AOC in Brother Vellies, & Kid Cudi in Virgil Abloh (who looked a MESS).”

One follower wrote in response, “Black designers don’t need to be validated by a white centric gala. Why can’t our greatness be validated in Afro spaces.”

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Smith replied: “We should be EVERYWHERE because fashion is a BUSINESS.”

The user continued, “I agree. But let’s shine in our spaces first and not feeling like the Met has to validate black designers. We can create our own that can attract the same high regard by the fashion world.”

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The style-centric Smith had the perfect response: “Baby, this is a discussion about the Super Bowl of fashion, I hosted Fashion Bomb Daily fashion show, interviewed Misa Hylton on Saturday, attended Harlem Fashion Row, Harlem Fashion Week, LaQuan Smith, etc, we are shining in our spaces! We deserve to shine EVERYWHERE.”