Source: Courtesy of / Rihanna
Rihanna’s pre-Met Gala outfit tease was a furry Karl-Lagerfeld-for-Chanel dream.
The Fenty mogul attended dinner in New York City April 30 at Caviar Russe and wore a cropped black and white fur jacket and statement “CC” sunglasses. The late German fashion designer designed the pieces for Chanel’s Fall Ready-to-Wear 1994 Womenswear collection.
Rihanna paired the look with an equally furry hat — designed by milliner Benny Andallo — and a white Coperni mini dress that displayed her sizable baby bump, Vogue detailed.
The expecting mother rounded out her look with diamond-encrusted earrings, black and silver stiletto heels, pink lipstick and lavender nails.
Seemingly a nod to how epic her fashion moment will be May 1 on the Met Gala carpet, Rihanna coyly said, “Not even Monday” in the caption of the dinner outfit post.
Nivea, Marsai Martin and Tanisha Thomas all left heart eye emojis underneath the Fenty mogul’s post.
Serena Williams said, “The Baddest in the game,” and Quad Webb said, “Always 🔥🔥🔥🔥.”
The 2023 Met Gala theme is “In Honor of Karl.”
The annual event will celebrate the launch of The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s latest exhibit, Karl Lagerfeld: A Line of Beauty, which opens to the public May 5.
Born in 1933, Lagerfeld worked for French fashion house founder Pierre Balmain as his first gig in the fashion industry. Throughout the decades, the icon’s eye for sophistication and innovative genius helped streamline brand identities and made them pop in ways recognizable to mainstream eyes. He birthed some of the most iconic collections for Chanel, Fendi, Balmain, Chloé and his eponymous label.
Regardless of the designer’s prolific contributions to the fashion world, Lagerfeld is remembered as one of the 20th century’s most problematic designers. Despite him spewing fatphobic, homophobic, misogynistic, xenophobic and a slew of other hateful statements that would’ve usually had someone’s legacy irreparably tarnished, the Met controversially still considers the designer worthy of being the theme of this year’s gala.
The complexities of how much good outweighs the bad regarding the designer’s past include Lagerfeld’s work to amplify the representation of Black faces in fashion.
Both Naomi Campbell and Kimora Lee Simmons credited the visionary for their spots in the limelight during the humble beginnings of their respective modeling careers. In 2016, the powerhouse handpicked Willow Smith as Chanel’s newest face.
Two years later, Lagerfeld cast Alton Mason as the first Black male model to walk a Chanel show in the French fashion house’s 109-year history.
The “Pharrell Chanel” capsule clothing collection launched shortly after the designer died in February 2019. The project featured collaborative input from Lagerfeld himself, Chanel artistic director Virginie Viard and hip-hop heavyweight Pharrell Williams, according to Women’s Wear Daily.
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