- Press Release
The Bulletproof Dress: Where Fashion Meets Advocacy
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Cotte D’Armes, March For Our Lives, and Founders Agency hijack the Met Gala to Confront America’s Gun Violence Crisis.
FASHION’S BIGGEST NIGHT. AMERICA’S BIGGEST CRISIS.
New York City, NY—[Monday May 4th, 2026]—As the fashion world gathers in New York City for the Met Gala, fashion brand Cotte D’Armes by Clarence Ruth, in collaboration with March For Our Lives, introduces a piece that pushes fashion beyond aesthetics and into a conversation about safety. The Bulletproof Dress is a statement garment confronting the ongoing crisis of gun violence in the United States, using one of fashion’s most visible cultural moments to deliver a clear message: “Gun Violence is Killing Our Kids.”
An apolitical statement, timed alongside this year’s exhibition, “Costume Art,” which explores the dressed body across 5,000 years, and the dress code “Fashion is Art,” the Bulletproof Dress reframes the body not only as a site of expression, but one increasingly forced to be protected.
Constructed with ballistic-resistant materials, the garment merges couture with function. Its bodice, modeled after a bulletproof vest, is both literal and symbolic—reflecting a generation for whom safety can no longer be assumed. Elevated from utility into high fashion, the dress exists at the intersection of design and discourse. It asks a confronting question: What does it mean to create beauty in a world where protection has become necessary?
“This is fashion as both declaration and documentation. The red is deliberate,” said Clarence Ruth, founder of Cotte D’Armes. “It’s saturated, emotional, and impossible to ignore. It speaks directly to the bloodshed caused by gun violence. This piece is about visibility and forcing a conversation that can no longer be avoided.”
The project brings together voices across fashion, art, and advocacy:
The Designer: Clarence Ruth (Cotte D’Armes), who dressed Coleman Domingo for the 2025 Met Gala.
The Muse: Racquel Chevremont, wearing the piece and speaking to the weight of the statement and what it means to carry both beauty and burden.
The Movement: March For Our Lives, a youth led organization fighting to end gun violence.
The Creative Agency: Founders, architecting the creative, cultural strategy and earned media-first approach.
Together, they aim to bring this issue into a space where it is often absent, forcing visibility at the highest level of culture.
“Fashion is the visible intersection of entertainment, business, art, and culture, making it a powerful platform to continue the fight to end gun violence,” said Kristin Mizushima and Katie Reid, Creative Directors at Founders Agency. “Cultural moments like the Met Gala dictate what the industry pays attention to. We saw an opportunity to use that attention differently—to insert a conversation that’s usually absent, and make it impossible to ignore.”
“Gun violence is the leading cause of death for young people in the United States,” said Jaclyn Corin, Executive Director of March For Our Lives. “We have a responsibility to bring this conversation into every space, especially the ones that shape culture. If fashion is art, it should reflect the world we’re living in and demand we change it.”
The unveiling of The Bulletproof Dress is not just a moment. It arrives in a week that has once again made its message impossible to ignore.
Just nights ago, in one of the nation’s most visible and protected rooms, an evening meant for celebration was interrupted by gunfire, sending attendees scrambling for safety. For a moment, they experienced what millions of Americans live with every day. No space is immune.
If that does not force a reckoning, what will?
The Bulletproof Dress brings that question into full view, using fashion’s biggest stage to turn attention into awareness, and awareness into action.
“This is not about advertising in the traditional sense,” said Cesar Agost Carreño, Founder & Chief Creative Officer at Founders Agency. “It’s about understanding where attention already exists—and placing an idea inside it in a way that feels unavoidable. We are targeting the intersection of fashion, entertainment, and advertising audiences.”
Dress worn by @racquelchevremont
Designer @cottesdarmesnyc @clarenceruth
Creative concept @foundersagency
Hair by @myssmonique
Makeup by @emilyamick
Styled by @brandonnst.regis
Jewelry by @helenyarmak
Production by @dvrg
PR: Luna Public Relations
🎥 Tna Sokolovskaya
🎥 Carty Caruso
📷 Bruno Savoca
🎶 Noble Music
About March For Our Lives
March For Our Lives is a youth-led movement dedicated to ending gun violence through education, advocacy, and civic engagement. Founded in the wake of the 2018 shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, the organization works to pass life-saving policies, mobilize young voters, and shift the national conversation around gun reform. For more information, visit www.marchforourlives.org and follow @marchforourlives on Instagram.
About Cotte D’Armes
Cotte D’Armes is a New York City-based luxury ready-to-wear brand from the creative mind of Clarence Ruth, an artist, designer, and author who has built the label on a foundation of military heritage, elevated craftsmanship, and a commitment to using fashion as a vehicle for meaningful dialogue. Since its founding, the brand has earned a reputation for collaborations that bridge fashion with culture and industry at the highest levels. In 2022, Ruth won the Tommy Hilfiger New Legacy Challenge, a global initiative created through Tommy Hilfiger’s People’s Place Program and Harlem’s Fashion Row to support emerging BIPOC designers. That partnership led to a landmark 10-piece capsule collection with Tommy Hilfiger and the Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team, launched at the 2024 Barcelona Grand Prix and worn by drivers Lewis Hamilton and George Russell.
About Founders Agency
Founded in 2019 by Tanya De Poli and Checha Agost Carreño, Founders is a minority-owned independent creative agency with offices in New York, Miami, Buenos Aires, Bogotá, Mexico City, London, and Kingston. The staff of 60 are known for working on disruptive creative campaigns that hack into culture for clients including Spotify, Netflix, HBOMax, Heineken, WE ❤ NYC, Lipton Hard Iced Tea, Lofted Spirits, World Sevens Football, Change The Ref and March For Our Lives. www.founders-agency.com