Hours before Jeff Bezos and Lauren S\u00e1nchez Bezos take their places as sponsors and honorary chairs of the Met Gala\u2014fashion\u2019s glittery annual fundraiser in support of the Metropolitan Museum of Art\u2019s Costume Institute\u2014a different kind of fashion event was unfolding across town.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Ahead of the gala, hundreds of workers, organizers, and advocates gathered in the Meatpacking District in downtown New York for the Ball Without Billionaires, a worker-led fashion show designed to contrast the one at the museum.<\/p>\n
Organized by a coalition of labor groups including the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), the Strategic Organizing Center, and the Amazon Labor Union, the event cast current and former workers from Amazon, Whole Foods, The Washington Post<\/em>, Starbucks, and Uber as models\u2014dressed by emerging, immigrant, and BIPOC designers like Cindy Castro, Abacaxi, Atashi, and Ricardo DSean. Actress and comedian Lisa Ann Walter and fashion editor Gabriella Karefa-Johnson co-hosted the Ball Without Billionaires.<\/p>\n The ball\u2019s message was straightforward. While the 2026 Met Gala\u2019s theme is \u201cFashion Is Art,\u201d the workers\u2019 counter-theme was \u201cLabor Is Art.\u201d The ambience at the event was celebratory. Workers showed up in fabulous outfits and complimented each other on their looks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Before the runway show began, labor union activist April Verrett,\u00a0who has served as president of the SEIU since 2024, took to the stage. \u201cEvery year, the Met Gala tells a story about who matters, who gets seen, who gets celebrated,\u201d she said. \u201cThis year, we decided to center us. To make ourselves the heroes of our story, to celebrate ourselves and to live our joy out loud.\u201d<\/p>\n Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment. <\/p>\n \n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/images.fastcompany.com\/image\/upload\/f_webp,q_auto,c_fit,w_1024\/wp-cms-2\/2026\/05\/02-91536318-met-gala-protest.jpg\")