Rihanna makes dramatic Met Gala entrance, arriving fashionably late in custom Valentino

The singer, who has worn some of the event's most memorable looks, was the last to arrive

Rihanna is often hailed as the queen of the Met Gala, and although she kept fans waiting for her arrival on the red carpet, her look did not disappoint.

The singer arrived at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art fashionably late on Monday evening, ensuring that she had the entire red carpet to herself, save for her partner, rapper A$AP Rocky.

And the singer made sure her outfit was just as dramatic as her late entrance. Dressed in bridal-inspired custom Valentino, she wore a white gown with a five-metre train, paired with a hooded cape covered in 25 giant 3D camellia flowers, an ode to Chanel and the legacy of Karl Lagerfeld, who was the inspiration for this year’s Met Gala theme. She also wore a pair of white rim sunglasses, which featured theatrical false lashes on the lenses, to add some Met-appropriate surrealism to the look.

Rocky, meanwhile, wore a red tartan skirt over crystal-studded jeans with a train of his own, by Gucci.

Rihanna has been one of the Met Gala’s key players over the past decade, providing some of the event’s most memorable looks, such as the dramatic yellow Guo Pei gown she wore in 2015. Never one to be behind the curve, the star debuted a Met-worthy look over the weekend that also paid a not-so-subtle nod to Lagerfeld.

Rihanna's most memorable Met Gala looks - in pictures

On Saturday, Rihanna stepped out for dinner in New York City in a vintage monochrome look from Chanel’s 1994 autumn/winter collection, designed by Lagerfeld. She wore the black-and-white fur two-piece over a fluffy white dress and finished the look with a pair of Chanel logo glasses.

While the heavily pregnant singer was not in attendance during last year’s gala, her presence was still felt inside The Metropolitan Museum of Art, where she was honoured with a statue. As part of the surprise, organised by Vogue in collaboration with the museum, the singer was immortalised in marble, modelled on the cover shoot she did for the May 2022 issue of the magazine.

For one night only, the figure was placed where the statue of Eirene (The Personification of Peace) stands. Sharing a video to Instagram, the magazine said: “Eirene is usually the highest-profile marble goddess @themetmuseum Greco-Roman galleries. But now we’ve got @badgalriri, straight off this month’s Vogue cover.”

And Rihanna was clearly thrilled with the honour. Reposting the video, she wrote: “Shut down the Met in marble! What’s more gilded than that? Lol! Thank you @metmuseum and @voguemagazine for this historic tribute! y’all bad for this one!”

Scroll through the gallery to see the best looks from the 2023 Met Gala