If there’s any celebrity who studies and perfects her interpretation of the Met Gala theme each year, it’s Rihanna. The Bajan superstar always chooses her red-carpet look with great care and consideration, and she may have outdone herself for the 2023 Met Gala. This year’s theme, “Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty,” called for a sartorial tribute to the late designer — whether dressing up in a version of his famed black-and-white signature look or wearing a current or archival design from the fashion houses he led. Rihanna chose the former, wearing a bridal-white gown with a halo of rosettes around her head. She arrived fashionably late arm-in-arm with ASAP Rocky, who wore a floor-grazing kilt skirt over a blazer and skinny tie, the latter which was Lagerfeld’s signature.
In collaboration with her longtime stylist, Jaleel Weaver, Rihanna’s outfit turned heads, with its rosette-covered bodice. She brought the ensemble together with white sunglasses with lashes and revved up the glamour quotient with a bold red lip.
A certified fashion icon, Rihanna takes an imaginative and inspired approach to every outfit she wears — but her Met Gala looks deserve special attention. In 2021, she celebrated American sportswear in a hoodie-inspired custom Balenciaga gown with a voluminous silhouette. For the “China: Through the Looking Glass” theme in 2015, she researched and fell in love with the work of Chinese couturier Guo Pei, stepping out in a sprawling, intricate yellow gown by the storied designer. Later, in 2017, Rihanna paid tribute to Comme des Garcons designer Rei Kawakubo in an avant-garde ruffled dress that looked like a walking work of art. And when she received her well-deserved co-chair title in 2018, she won the red carpet in an embellished two-tier dress and headpiece created by John Galliano. In line with the year’s “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” theme, the artful design was inspired by the Pope.
Rihanna’s latest Met Gala look is just as inspiring. Keep scrolling to see it from every angle.
