Steff Yotka at i-D reports New York City was abuzz with celebrities, designers, stylists and fans at the annual Met Gala on Monday night (May 5th), which was hosted by the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute. It is, without question, the most popular fashion event in the world, celebrating celebrity, design and creativity alongside luxury and exclusivity. But what about the people whose labor - behind-the-scenes, to make the glamour real? “The Fashion Industry is made possible by the thousands of Workers behind the scenes - Seamstresses, Tailors, Retail Workers, Delivery Drivers - whose immense talent and dedication deserves to be celebrated,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani tells i-D, exclusively. The Mayor’s Office spotlighted six local Fashion Industry Professionals in a portrait series by Kara McCurdy: Tailor and Union Organizer Christopher Anderson; Macy’s Employee and Union Organizer Earnestine Gay; Tailor Hafeez Raza; Former Amazon Delivery Employees; Delivery Protection Act Activists Latrice Johnson and Lamont Hopewell; and tailor Sonia Castrejón. “From true love found on the picket line, to an entrepreneur running a tailoring school out of her Brooklyn basement, we’re proud to feature the stories of these hard-working New Yorkers who make our City’s Fashion Industry second to none,” the Mayor continues. Anderson, a Master Tailor at Saks and a Union Organizer who encourages their colleagues and younger employees to fight for equality, said: “Union Workers, especially Garment Workers, built this country.”

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