The belle of the Met Ball, Robyn Rihanna Fenty, was as fashionably late as usual last night, with photographers gathering to snap her hotel arrival (yes, arrival) around the same time the first few celebs ascended those iconic steps.
When she finally emerged just before 10pm, arm in arm with beau A$AP Rocky, Rihanna was spotted in a warm-up look of sorts: full hair, makeup and heels, but wrapped and concealed in an archive Fendi fur coat, designed by Karl Lagerfeld himself when he was at the helm of the fashion house in 1997.
Even the pre-carpet look was on theme, then, with this year’s Met Gala being an ode to the late, great Lagerfeld (Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty) who designed pieces for Chanel, Fendi, Chloé, Balmain, Patou as well as his own eponymous brand, until his death in 2019.
RIHANNA HAS FINALLY ARRIVED TO THE MET GALA pic.twitter.com/uTExtOij0X
— cameron (@cambeserious) May 2, 2023
But by the time Rihanna reached the Met Gala carpet, her look had tripled in size. The beauty, fashion and music mogul had changed into an all white, billowing Valentino gown with a floral cocoon - made up of 30 camellias appliqués with over 500 petals in total - surrounding her torso and head.
She sported a muted makeup look, by Rihanna’s standards at least, of a red lip and dusting of white eyeshadow, which she initially covered using a pair of angular white sunglasses that featured false eyelashes adhesed to the lenses.
As the sunglasses came off, so did the floral centrepiece, and Rihanna floated up the Met Gala stairs in a white, faille bridal gown fit to close a fashion show (she was one of the last guests to arrive, after all). Rihanna’s look featured a drop waist to accentuate her growing baby bump and cascading jewellery, rumoured by Page Six to be worth an estimated $25 million.
While gradually climbing the stairs, Rihanna confirmed her gown’s design to reporters - “It’s Valentino baby!” she giggled - and told the media pack she was feeling “good” and “expensive” in her ensemble.
Her partner, rapper and Gucci muse A$AP Rocky, followed beside her, wearing a Lagerfeld inspired outfit which began as a standard black tie look and transcended into a cropped tartan kilt creation.
The look was a nod to a runway outfit worn by Lagerfeld in Tokyo, while closing the catwalk for his 2004 Chanel show, but was updated for 2023 with a classic Rocky twist: the kilt was worn atop embroidered denim jeans, fleshed out with stacked Gucci belts and steel capped, square toe black boots.
