The actress, famous for American Horror Story and Ratched, walked the red carpet on May 4 wearing a massive grey-and-red tulle ball gown from Matières Fécales’ Fall/Winter 2026 “The One Percent” collection. It had wild deconstructed ruffles and these oversized bow things on the shoulders, plus long white opera gloves and a fancy Boucheron diamond choker. But the part nobody could stop staring at? A literal one-dollar bill taped over her eyes like a blindfold, with tiny holes cut out so she could actually see.
She called the whole thing “The One Percent,” using it to roast the ultra-rich and spotlight greed and inequality. The dollar bill over the eyes was meant to say she (and they) were “blinded by money.” At least that’s what she and the designer were going for.
A short 12-second clip from MTV’s coverage blew up after Oli London shared it on X. You see Paulson shuffling along in that huge dress with a guy in a tux helping her, the camera zooming in on the bill covering her face. Sleek dark hair, dark lipstick, pretty neutral expression the whole time.
A tweet from X.
The theme this year was “Fashion Is Art,” and tickets cost anywhere from $75,000 to $100,000 a pop. It’s supposed to raise money for the Met’s Costume Institute, but it’s also the perfect target for anyone fed up with flashy wealth and celebrity events.
Paulson herself is worth around $12 million, so yeah… people lost their minds online. Comments like
“If you’re protesting the rich, maybe skip the $100k party” and “You are the 1%, sis”
flooded in. A lot of folks called it tone-deaf and hypocritical, especially with the high-end choker and designer gown. Others defended it as smart satire from someone working inside the system, comparing it to other political fashion moments at the Gala in the past.
It’s the same old debate can celebrities actually criticize the machine that made them rich and famous, or does it just come off as rich people playing pretend activist? The Met Gala has always mixed glamour with the occasional side of protest, but doing an anti-wealth bit at a billionaire-backed event hit a particular nerve this time.
Fashion people pointed out that the over-the-top look matched the designer’s usual provocative style glam on the surface, sharp political edge underneath.
Whether you loved it or rolled your eyes, Paulson’s dollar-bill blindfold became one of the most memed and discussed moments of the night. It perfectly captured the current mood in America: anger about inequality, deep distrust of celebrity “activism,” and the nagging feeling that a lot of people at the top can’t (or won’t) see past their own bubble.
The clip is still going around, the arguments keep raging, and we’re all still watching. Classic Met Gala chaos.
