Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez causes a stir with 'Tax the Rich' Met Gala gown

US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has caused a stir with the slogan “Tax the Rich” written on her gown at New York’s elite Met Gala.

The 31 year-old Democratic Congresswoman from New York had the slogan written in red across the back of her white gown on Monday.

With her off-the-shoulder gown by Brooklyn-based designer brand Brother Vellies, the New York politician revealed the statement, scrawled in bold lettering on the back of her dress, as she ascended the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, CNN reported.

Ocasio-Cortez's choice of white at her Met Gala debut echoed the long history of American congresswomen wearing the shade in reference to the women's suffrage movement, according to the report.

She wore a white suit to her swearing-in ceremony in 2019, later saying on Twitter that it was in honour of "the women who paved the path before me, and for all the women yet to come."

Speaking to reporters at the event, she explained why she had brought her message to the Met Gala, an event attended by many of Hollywood's biggest -- and wealthiest -- stars.

"It's time we bring all classes into the conversation about having a fairer country," Ocasio-Cortez said about the slogan, Reuters reported.

While the gown was celebrated by many onlookers as bold and subversive, critics called the move hypocritical -- pointing to the fact she was rubbing shoulders with the rich and famous at an event that charges $35,000 for a ticket.

Vanessa Friedman, chief fashion critic at the New York Times, took to Twitter to say, "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez attending the $35,000-a-ticket #MetGala in a Brother Vellies gown blaring "Tax the Rich" is a complicated proposition."