Lisa's Underwear & Rosa Parks? Mystery Solved
BANGKOK, Thailand -- Some people imagine seeing a famous person's face on a burnt piece of toast.
Online viewers and international media however were wondering if the embroidered crotch and rear of a sexy bodysuit branded by Louis Vuitton (LV) intentionally portrayed the late Black civil rights leader Rosa Parks' face.
And, if so, why did one of Thailand's most cherished celebrities, Lisa, wear and display the dazzling, no-pants outfit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Gala on May 5 in New York?
"People think the Louis Vuitton panties Lisa wore to the 2025 Met Gala have Rosa Parks' face on them," People magazine headlined its report.
"According to Vogue, artist Henry Taylor embroidered portraits into her [Lisa's] ensemble.
"Taylor was previously commissioned by Pharrell Williams -- Louis Vuitton's men's creative director and 2025 Met Gala co-chair -- to embroider the same design for the brand's Men's Spring-Summer 2024 show," People reported.
After photos and questions about Lisa's outfit went viral online, Louis Vuitton said in a statement to The New York Times:
"The lace replicates elements of an artwork by the American artist Henry Taylor, depicting portraits of figures who have been a part of the artist's life."
LV "did not clarify if any famous faces were included," People magazine noted.
E! Entertainment Television, Buzzfeed, and other media published similar reports.
The Cut, based in New York, asked in its headline: 'Is That Really Rosa Parks on Lisa's Crotch?'
"It appears to be a collage of faces of different women, including at least one that looks more than a little bit like Rosa Parks,' The Cut reported.
"Never in our wildest dreams did we expect to zoom in on Lisa's crotch and wonder, 'Is that Rosa Parks?'"
Even Hanoi-based Vietnam Express chimed in, headlining its story: "BlackPink's Lisa slammed as Met Gala bodysuit appears to show face of U.S. activist Rosa Parks."
Shocked viewers from around the world posted their dismay and anger about the controversy on X, Instagram, Facebook and other sites.
Lalisa Manobal, who goes by the name Lisa, has enjoyed skyrocketing fame as a pop singer during the past decade and appeared as a main actor in the latest White Lotus series set here in Thailand.
Lisa, 28, is also the pride and joy of Thailand, her home country, attracting millions of fans and the support of the Thai government.
She first achieved international fame several years ago as the only Thai singer alongside South Koreans in an all-girls' K-Pop singing group known as BlackPink.
BlackPink's catchy first hit was a mostly Korean-language song and video titled, "DDU-DU DDU-DU."
It successfully melded American hip-hop hand gestures, strutting, attitude and other stereotype dancing and singing, alternating with saccharine-sweet pouting, innocent poses, and coy crooning.
Lisa became so famous that the Thai government promoted her in 2023 in its official international "soft power" campaign to convince the world this Southeast Asian nation's modern culture, tourist sites, cuisine and other lures are dynamic and thrilling.
Several months ago, after Lisa appeared in a video while singing in Bangkok's bustling Chinatown, the Thai government and local media praised her for highlighting the neighborhood which is a main tourist attraction.
Fans rushed to photograph selfies posing like her in the same street.
Lisa also became a brand ambassador for Céline, Bvlgari, and other products.
"Her solo track 'Lalisa', further etched her name in history by becoming the first K-pop number to surpass one billion streams on Spotify," Thailand's Nation news reported.
"Lisa and her BlackPink band also attended a state banquet at Buckingham, hosted by the king and queen of Britain."
Damage to Lisa's image began on Monday (May 5) when questions about who is portrayed in viral close-up photos of her black lace bodysuit's crotch and rear, shot when she professionally modelled the LV outfit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art's gala.
The celebration showcased the Met's "Superfine: Tailoring Black Style" exhibit.
It "explores the importance of style to the formation of Black identities in the Atlantic diaspora, particularly in the United States and Europe," the museum said.
The gala's theme "drew inspiration from Barnard [College] professor and author Monica L. Miller's 2009 book, 'Slaves to Fashion: Black Dandyism and the Styling of Black Diasporic Identity'," NBC's Today website reported.
"There is a face of what appears to be a woman with glasses, but nothing else to indicate it is Parks," Today said.
The black bodysuit Lisa wore was embroidered with several different, tiny, unidentified single-line faces which appeared generic.
Her accessories included a single-breasted blazer and sheer LV monogrammed tights.
Hours before the gala, Vogue released a video titled, "Inside Lisa's First Met Gala Look," in which she receives advice from Mr. Williams during the final fitting.
"Today I'm wearing Louis Vuitton by Pharrell. It recreates an artwork by Henry Taylor," Lisa says in a fitting room while the camera shows close-ups of the small embroidered faces.
"You have to see all the details. Like, can you zoom in? Like you can see, like, the LV logo. Also his [Taylor's] art. I fall in love with this right away."
She wondered however "if this look is a little too feminine, too girly."
Her black blazer's lace also displayed the pattern of small faces.
Some viewers however went online claiming one repeatedly patterned face, wearing glasses, was Ms. Parks.
In 1955 Ms. Parks, a seamstress, refused a bus driver's demand that Blacks must sit in the back of all public buses in Montgomery, Alabama.
She went on to help lead a lengthy Montgomery Bus Boycott, during which she was jailed and lost her job.
The boycott ended segregated seating and she became an icon of the civil rights movement. Ms. Parks died in 2005 aged 92.
Belatedly, two days after the mystery went viral online and in the media, New York Magazine's Vulture news scooped the answer to the mystery and reported:
'The figure featured in Lisa's Louis Vuitton look is not Rosa Parks, but one of Henry's neighbors,' a representative for artist Henry Taylor said in a statement to Vulture.
'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. These figures come directly from Henry's existing artworks, which he provided to LVMH for Pharrell's debut collection with Louis Vuitton in 2023.
"None of the individuals depicted in any of the garments are Rosa Parks or other well-known figures from Black cultural history. They are all people from Henry's own life," the statement to Vulture said.
Richard S. Ehrlich is a Bangkok-based American foreign correspondent reporting from Asia since 1978, and winner of Columbia University's Foreign Correspondents' Award. Excerpts from his two new nonfiction books, "Rituals. Killers. Wars. & Sex. -- Tibet, India, Nepal, Laos, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka & New York" and "Apocalyptic Tribes, Smugglers & Freaks" are available at
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