A <em>White Lotus</em> Star Purportedly Wore Rosa Parks on Her Panties. The Controversy Only Got Dumber From There.

Every first Monday in May, celebrities walk the Met Gala carpet in haute couture while we, the peanut gallery online and at home, judge to see who wore what best and who will go down in gala infamy. This year, the odds for infamy seemed much higher than usual due to the dress code, “Tailored for You,” which took inspiration from the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute's accompanying exhibition exploring Black dandyism, Superfine: Tailoring Black Style . Plenty of Met-heads were excited about the theme—the Met Gala's very first explicitly Black one—but the announcement also set off some alarm bells. Even though Black fashion is all the rage these days and many Black designers have become household names, the industry still occasionally struggles to embrace various cultures in an appropriate way.

So everyone's eyes were peeled for any non-Black attendees and designers who would interpret the theme horribly wrong, and on Monday night, social media was quick to declare a winner: White Lotus actress and K-pop star Lisa, from the group Blackpink. But the story keeps becoming more complicated and has dragged in everyone from Pharrell to… Rosa Parks? Let's break it down.

Why are people mad at Lisa?

Lisa showed up to her first Met Gala in a sparkling pantsless head-to-toe look from Louis Vuitton, a getup that would have been just fine—Lisa's ensemble was far from the only pantsless outfit to come from Pharrell's atelier—if it hadn't been for the details. Eagle-eyed fans on the internet zoomed in and noticed what seemed to be a familiar face, one that looked a lot like civil-rights activist Rosa Parks, embellished onto the fabric that covered Lisa's crotch. Now the internet is haranguing Lisa and music titan Pharrell for what it believes is a rather inappropriate use of the Black hero's face.

Wait, did you say Pharrell? As in “I produced the greatest track of all time, Kelis' 'Milkshake' ” Pharrell?

The Neptunes' Pharrell and longtime fashion aficionado Pharrell—yep, the very same! Pharrell was appointed as the brand's new men's creative director in 2023 and handled all of LV's looks for the Met Gala—including for the women. For Lisa's outfit, he collaborated with Black artist and painter Henry Taylor, who designed the faces embroidered onto Lisa's jacket and bodysuit. It isn't the first time Pharrell has incorporated Taylor's portraits into his fashion; the musicmaker also embroidered miniatures of Taylor's portraits onto various suits in his debut LV collection , which itself is not the first time Taylor has worked with the brand .

The irony was not lost on people that if that face were to really be Rosa Parks, it would have either slipped past (or been actively greenlit by) Pharrell, a prominent Black man in charge of the clothing.

OK, that would be very distant, but do we even know if it's actually Parks? Or is it just an illustration that looks a lot like her and was placed in an unfortunate spot?

No, it's not (and thank goodness). Initially, Louis Vuitton vaguely told the Cut that Taylor's print showcases “portraits of figures who have been a part of the artist's life,” leaving the question unanswered. Fortunately, on Wednesday morning, a representative for Taylor told Vulture that “the figure featured” is not Parks but, instead, a neighbor of Taylor's. The representative went on to explain that “the faces seen on this look, as well as on previous LV garments featuring Taylor's artwork, are all drawn from his personal life—family members, friends, and neighbors,” adding, “None of the individuals depicted in any of the garments are Rosa Parks or other well-known figures from Black cultural history.”