Met Gala 2023: Rihanna's Late Arrival Was Worth The Wait

Rihanna's inimitable maternity style has officially taken on fashion's biggest night.

At last, Rihanna and A$AP Rocky have made their fashionably late arrival at the 2023 Met Gala. As the evening's final guests, the couple embraced the Karl Lagerfeld-dedicated dress code with some subtle homages to the late Chanel creative director.

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While en route to the party, the "Love on the Brain" singer cut an elegant figure in an oversized fur coat hailing from Fendi's fall/winter 1997 ready-to-wear collection. For footwear, RiRi opted for ivory white pumps with some feminine touches, including wrap-around laces and a pretty rosette attached to the pointed toe. Upping the ante further were her accessories, which included large stud diamond earrings and a multi-strand pearl-and-diamond choker necklace by Bulgari.

She later arrived at the Metropolitan Museum of Art after pulling off an outfit change. There, she wore a dramatic white Maison Valentino gown with a long, sweeping train. Plus, she wore a structured ivory top covered in rosettes, which completely engulfed her torso and head. She finished the look off with opera-length fingerless gloves and a pair of white sunglasses with attached faux eyelashes.

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Meanwhile, the rapper wore a Gucci ensemble, consisting of a black blazer, a white collared dress shirt, and a high-low red plaid pleated kilt layered over a pair of bedazzled baggy jeans. (The outfit references a similar look that Lagerfeld once wore to close out the Chanel runway in 2004). Rocky also sported a pair of black sunglasses, then further accessorised with a silver brooch on his lapel, stud earrings, and steel-tip square-toe boots.

As the couple ascended the staircase, Rihanna removed her rosette-covered top, revealing a form-fitting slip gown that hugged her baby bump, plus spaghetti straps and a daring plunging neckline.

The Fenty Beauty mogul is currently pregnant with her and Rocky's second child. The couple previously welcomed their first, a baby boy whose name they have yet to publicly disclose, back in May 2022.

When it comes to dressing her baby bump, the Grammy winner previously told Entertainment Tonight that she intends to have just as much fun with her style as she does when she isn't pregnant.

"[Pregnancy's] a long nine to 10 months. You have to enjoy it," she said. "Fashion is one of my favourite things, so, you know, we're defying what it even means to be pregnant and maternal. It can get uncomfortable at times and so you can dress the part and pretend."

Rihanna and Rocky last attended the Met Gala in 2021, when they turned heads in coordinating wrap looks. The "We Found Love" singer wore a Balenciaga Couture creation, consisting of a dramatic ruffled black gown with a matching knit hoodie and a crystal bejeweled headpiece, while the rapper wore a colorful patchwork puff coat by designer ERL, Eli Russell Linnetz. It marked their first time attending the event together as a couple.

This article originally appeared in Harper's BAZAAR US.