Cardi B Wears Hundreds Of Hair Clips To The 2023 VMAs

Cardi B—unsurprisingly—turned heads with her bold red-carpet ensemble for the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards.

The rapper showed up to New Jersey’s Prudential Center wearing a form-fitting strapless gown that, at first glance, appeared to be made up of glimmering metal shards. However, upon closer inspection, it turned out Cardi’s armour-like Dilara Findikoglu dress was actually covered in hundreds of silver hair clips, stacked and arranged in swirling and fanning patterns. She continued the theme with a pair of black arm cuffs, also studded with hair clips, and further accessorised with glittery heels and a metallic manicure.

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Cardi has one nomination for tonight’s awards, in the category of Best Hip-Hop, for her collaboration with GloRilla on “Tomorrow 2.” She’ll also be among the ceremony’s performers, taking the stage with Megan Thee Stallion for their debut performance of “Bongos,” which just dropped on September 8. The duo last collaborated together on the viral “WAP,” back in 2020.

Cardi spoke about the new collab during a guest appearance on the Whoo’s House podcast.

“I wonder how people are gonna react to this vibe because they’re really like expecting ‘WAP,’ like, ‘Oh, here they go again talking this and that,'” Cardi said to host DJ Whoo Kid, per Billboard. “We are talking a little, you know, about some p—y, but not like ‘WAP’ type of stuff.”

Of the forthcoming “Bongos” music video, she added: “It’s a different theme and the video is like a whole complete different type of theme. … It’s like on some ‘b—h, you jump, I jump … if you wit it, I I wit it. We’re gonna do it.’ We worked so hard on the music video. You’re gonna see … that’s thought put into that.”

Other expected performers for tonight’s show include Demi Lovato, Shakira, Doja Cat, Anitta, Olivia Rodrigo, and Sabrina Carpenter.

This article originally appeared in Harper's BAZAAR US.