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She wore vintage Fendi and custom Valentino.
Rihanna always has us wondering: “Will she come to the Met Gala, or won’t she?” Given the music, fashion, and beauty mogul has a habit of being the last to walk the red carpet (often a while after everyone else has vacated the steps) her die-hard followers were keeping a close eye on the entrance of The Carlyle Hotel as the official livestream drew to a close earlier this evening.
Lo and behold, at 10 p.m., Rihanna and A$AP Rocky were spotted leaving the hotel in looks that paid tribute to the night’s honoree, Karl Lagerfeld—whose decades-spanning work is being honored in the Costume Institute exhibition “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty”—with a very Rihanna twist.
Wearing an archival fur coat from Fendi’s fall 1997 collection—designed by Lagerfeld and originally worn on the runway by Naomi Campbell—Rihanna first embodied pure vintage glamour. She accessorized with layers of diamond necklaces and a pair of camellia earrings, the flower beloved by Coco Chanel that became synonymous with the French fashion house Lagerfeld helmed for more than three decades. (A classic beauty look—by Rihanna’s standards, anyway—consisted of a dusting of white eyeshadow and a bold red lip.)
A$AP Rocky, meanwhile, took cues from an outfit worn by the maestro himself. The musician wore a black blazer and white button-down with a black leather tie, along with a kilt, all designed by Gucci for the event.
Lagerfeld was known for his long-standing love of Scotland, and wore a similar skirt on the runway of a 2004 Chanel show in Tokyo. Much like his partner, Rocky made sure to give the look an update fitting 2023: namely, stacked Gucci belts and diamanté-studded jeans.
One quick change later, and the couple arrived on the red carpet (or cream carpet, to be precise) at the Metropolitan Museum of Art with Rihanna in a brand-new look—and a pair of playful white sunglasses decorated with false eyelashes.
Wearing a custom Valentino silk faille dress featuring a cape covered in 30 giant camellia appliqués made of 500 petals and a billowing train, she not only touched upon one of the evening’s most notable trends—bridal-ready gowns—but also elevated it to head-spinning new heights. As she walked the steps, Rihanna undid the cape to reveal one final detail: a drop waist highlighting her baby bump, as she awaits the birth of their second child. The couple were fashionably late, but worth the wait.
This article was originally published on Vogue.
