Rosa Parks On Your Crotch At The Met Gala? Surely Not. Right?

The first Monday in May has been the biggest night in fashion for decades. This year, though, the Met Gala took fashion’s Super Bowl to new, dandy-rific heights. The theme was “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” an exploration of Black dandyism and immaculate tailoring.

Many celebrities honored various eras of Black fashion with their looks. There was a plethora of zoot suits, pinstripes and church crowns. Together, these looks created a beautiful tapestry of Black stylistic homage. One look, though, gained some attention for an entirely different reason. K-pop star Lisa of Blackpink opted for a pantless look. She wore sheer monogrammed Louis Vuitton tights, a sparkly blazer and Rosa Parks’ face on her crotch? Not exactly.

The Met Gala and Black culture

First, a little backstory: The Met Gala started as a fundraiser for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume and has transformed into the biggest fashion display in the world. Now given the fashion industry’s history of anti-Blackness, the premise of dedicating fashion’s biggest night to Black style was reasonably enchanting, exciting and wholly curious. It also placed a magnifying glass on potential opportunities for missteps.

Blasphemy on the red carpet?

Now, when the theme for this year’s Met Gala was announced in October, I expected to see some sacrilegious attempts at homage, but sporting a Civil Rights activist on your crotch? Well, that was admittedly not on my Met Gala bingo card. Not by a long shot. It has not yet been confirmed whether or not Rosa Parks was the inspiration behind the print or if the look was just a collage of various women. But the design has inspired multitudes of TikTok videos and posts on X, pointing out the downright absurdity of the mere thought.

The ludicrous index is only heightened by Lisa and K-pop as a whole’s relationship. Black culture. Earlier this year, a video of her rapping the N-word resurfaced. Moreover, K-pop, in general, has been on the receiving end of warranted critiques centered on its frequent pilferage from Black culture.

Did Blackpink’s Lisa really wear Rosa Parks underwear?

Thankfully, though, it seems like the internet didn’t get this one quite right.

According to Hyperallergic, the designs were reflections of figures close to contemporary artist Henry Taylor, who collaborated with Louis Vuitton for the pieces. None of the designs were intended to reflect Rosa Parks. It was all just one big misunderstanding, a kerfuffle of epic and unfortunate proportions.