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    Rihanna Arrives at the Met Gala, Appearing to Confirm A Third Pregnancy

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    The pop star seemed to confirm rumors she was pregnant when she met shouts of congratulations with: “Thank you!”Rihanna loves a show — a splashy late arrival, a “personal news” tease. The pop star arrived at the Met Gala on Rihanna time, around 10 p.m.Tonight is of course about her partner, ASAP Rocky, who is co-chair of the gala and arrived earlier in the evening, wearing a suit he said nodded to the film “Harlem Nights.” But it’s also about Rihanna in the sense that everything is always about Rihanna.The pop star set social media atwitter earlier in the day, when she walked into the Carlyle Hotel wearing a gray two piece suit, captured in photos that sparked speculations the singer was pregnant again. It wouldn’t be Rihanna’s first stunt pregnancy reveal: At the 2023 Super Bowl, she used her half time performance to debut a subtle bump, confirming the news moments after she left the stage. Even before that, during her first pregnancy, she announced the news in a street shoot that launched a thousand imitators (“pink padded coat” sales shot up 200 percent).Walking up the blue-carpeted steps of the Met, the pop star seemed to confirm the suspicions when she met shouts of congratulations with: “Thank you!”ASAP Rocky, in an interview Monday night, appeared to add his own confirmation, saying: “I don’t know, whatever, just don’t really cover her baby bump, you dig?”The theme of the night was “tailored for you,” a celebration of personal twists on dandy style that ranged from André 3000 with a piano on his back to Stevie Wonder in a bedazzled cape. But the Met Gala is also perpetually an event tailored for Rihanna. In 2018, she made waves in a papal get-up; in 2023, her look verged on walking wedding cake, but glamorous. This year, her absence for hours on the red carpet, and the swirl of rumors surrounding it, said more than any outfit could.When she finally arrived, she joked with reporters who had been waiting for her arrival: “I can barely wink,” she told them, “but I’ll do it for you.” More

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      Sabrina Carpenter, Doja Cat and Others Go Pants-Less at Met Gala

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      Stars at the Met Gala, including Sabrina Carpenter, took an opportunity to show some leg. A lot of leg, actually.On Monday night, celebrities and stars descended on the Metropolitan Museum of Art to celebrate the Costume Institute’s new exhibition, “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” a history-making look at the Black dandy.While plenty of guests took the theme as a moment for sharply constructed pantsuits, a few attendees opted for a little less fabric on their legs. Almost no fabric, in a few cases.Perhaps most notable was Sabrina Carpenter, the “Espresso” singer whose maroon ensemble consisted of a bodysuit underneath a skimpy topcoat with tails designed by Louis Vuitton. The musical artist Doja Cat sported a similarly scant ensemble, donning a pinstriped suit-inspired one piece complete with sharp shoulder pads. The blazer and bodysuit hybrid, designed by Marc Jacobs, featured a leopard print bustier. Lisa, the K-pop star of Black Pink who recently appeared on the latest season of “The White Lotus,” also appeared in a pants-less Louis Vuitton look, complete with monogrammed sheer black tights. (Helen Lasichanh, a designer and the wife of Pharrell Williams, one of the event’s co-chairs, stepped out in the same stockings.) Arriving later in the evening, the actor Taraji P. Henson opted for an ivory fit without, well, you know.While not technically fully forgoing bottoms, the “Wicked” star Cynthia Erivo’s voluminous black tulle overskirt featured an open panel in the front revealing tiny shorts beneath. The model Hailey Bieber wore a thigh-grazing black blazer as a minidress over pantyhose.The no-pants look is, of course, nothing new. Edie Sedgwick perfected it way back in the Warhol-era. And much more recently, in 2022, bare legs appeared in runway shows by Bottega Veneta and Miu Miu.Consider the evening’s minimal leg wear a step away from the more skin-revealing trend that took over red carpets earlier this year: naked dressing. More

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      This Year’s Met Gala Raises the Most Money in Its History

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      The Met’s annual fashion party has become a fund-raising juggernaut, but the lavish event comes with a price tag of its own. How much bang does it get for its buck?The Met Gala has outdone itself, even before it’s begun.The annual gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art — the flashy fashion extravaganza that highlights the city’s social scene every May — raised a record $31 million this year, museum officials announced on Monday, the biggest gross in the event’s 77-year history.The money haul — and the avid interest the gala inspires — further cements its place as the pre-eminent benefit among the city’s cultural institutions, and one the world’s most sought-after tickets. The Met’s take dwarfs events like a September gala for the New York Philharmonic (which brought in nearly $4 million) and the 2024 event for the Whitney Museum of American Art, which raised some $5.2 million.The $31 million figure does not reflect the seven-figure cost of staging the gala, which will kick off on Monday evening with the procession of pop stars, fashion icons and sporting-world superstars striding the red carpet, enduring countless flashbulbs, and surrounded by a swarm of publicity and eager onlookers.The gala will act, as always, as the opening of a Costume Institute exhibition: This year’s is entitled “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” examining 300 years of Black fashion and the vibrant history of Black dandyism.That emphasis is a significant departure from the department’s largely monochromatic past: This is the Met’s first fashion exhibition devoted entirely to designers of color, and is being seen as part of a larger effort to diversify the collection. It is also a rarity for its focus on men’s wear.As such, it drew an array of Black celebrities to help host the event — including Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, ASAP Rocky and Pharrell Williams. LeBron James, whose Los Angeles Lakers were bounced from the N.B.A. playoffs last week, is the honorary chair.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      The Met’s Next Costume Fashion Blockbuster Take On the Politics of Race

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      With support from LeBron James, ASAP Rocky, Pharrell Williams and more.The Costume Institute of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is wading into the politics of race relations.On Wednesday, the museum announced that its spring 2025 blockbuster fashion show will be “Superfine: Tailoring Black Style,” focusing on the history of the Black dandy and the way peacocking goes beyond aesthetics to empowerment. ASAP Rocky, Colman Domingo, Lewis Hamilton, Pharrell Williams and Anna Wintour will be co-chairs of the gala that opens the show; LeBron James will be the honorary chair.The Met’s first fashion exhibition to focus solely on the work of designers of color, as well as the first in more than two decades to focus explicitly on men’s wear, the show is another step in the Costume Institute’s efforts to rectify its own historic failures in diversity and inclusion, said Andrew Bolton, the curator in charge.“I wanted to stage a show on race that could use our collection to tell a story that had been absent from the conversation both within the museum and outside,” Mr. Bolton said. “This is a first of its kind.”LeBron James will be the honorary chair of the event. Mario Anzuoni/ReutersThe goal, he said, is to demonstrate what happens to the concept of the “dandy,” as defined by Beau Brummell in Regency England, when it is racialized. When, for example, an enslaved person is treated as a luxury object to be dressed up and displayed — and how those clothes in turn were appropriated by the enslaved and used to subvert existing systems and create new identities. Additionally, it will illustrate how contemporary Black men’s wear designers use their work to connect to this tradition.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

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      Rihanna, Taylor Swift and Beyoncé Missed the 2024 Met Gala

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      In the week leading up to the Met Gala, tabloids volleyed predictions about Taylor Swift’s possible attendance: She would be there with her football player boyfriend, Travis Kelce! Actually, she wouldn’t! She might go but leave Mr. Kelce at home!On Monday night, fans finally got their answer. The party of the year would have to go on without Ms. Swift.Other notable absences from the red carpet: Beyoncé, who had not been expected to attend, and Rihanna, who seemed poised to be the closing act of fashion’s annual parade of one-upmanship.Last year, every other guest had walked the carpet — as had one uninvited cockroach — before Rihanna arrived at 10:15 p.m., wrapped in Valentino camellias that she said made her feel “expensive.”Rihanna, 36, who swung from pop stardom into a prosperous second act as a lingerie and makeup mogul, told Extra TV earlier in the week that she had planned on attending the gala. People magazine reported on Monday that the singer had come down with the flu.The singer had become one of the most hotly anticipated presences on the Met’s steps. Her turn as a miniskirted pope in 2018 touched off an internet frenzy, and the 55-pound, daffodil yellow gown she wore in 2015 helped earn its designer a slot on the haute couture schedule in Paris.The gala’s influence as a joint advertising opportunity for brands, sponsors and celebrities depends in part on the level of star power that is willing to show up. The gala still attracted boldface names this year, including Zendaya and Jennifer Lopez, but many fans online said that the lack of Rihanna had been a blow. (Some even circulated images of the singer hitting the carpet that appeared to have been created by artificial intelligence.)Rihanna has been a frequent presence at the gala in recent years, but Taylor Swift and Beyoncé have not attended since 2016.Ms. Swift began attending the gala in 2008 and was a co-chair in 2016. In the past year she has not exactly been hurting for the Met’s spotlight: Her Eras Tour stimulated both economic and seismic activity on its yearlong (and counting) romp around the world, and her recent album, “The Tortured Poets Department,” overcame mixed reviews to become her 14th release to hit reach No. 1 on the Billboard album chart.Beyoncé attended the gala seven times from 2008 to 2016, toying with silhouette in strapless Armani and mermaid-style Emilio Pucci gowns. She has lately been leading a high-fashion rodeo in wide-brimmed hats and western boots while promoting her album “Cowboy Carter.”Even without showing up to the Met on the first Monday in May, Beyoncé wields immense power in the fashion sphere, Vanessa Friedman, the chief fashion critic of The New York Times, recently wrote: “She is practically a Met Gala unto herself.” More

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      Kim Kardashian Stuns Met Gala in Corset That Leaves Little Room to Breathe

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      Kim Kardashian created a hoo-ha at the 2022 Met Gala when she admitted to going on a crash diet to fit into the Marilyn Monroe “Happy Birthday Mr. President” dress she wore to pose on the museum steps.This year, however, she engaged in a different kind of body modification via the extreme corseting of the Maison Margiela by John Galliano couture dress she wore, cinched so tight at the waist it turned her figure into an hourglass version of the X Games. It was to tight, it was hard to imagine how she could breathe — let alone eat once inside the museum.Viewers on social media immediately took notice. “Kim Kardashian honestly looks so uncomfortable and like she can barely move or even breathe,” posted one observer. “Fashion shouldn’t be like that.”“Everyone is snatching their waist,” another wrote on X. “They said the one rule in the garden of time is no breathing, from Bad Bunny to Kim Kardashian.”The corseting had been a feature of Mr. Galliano’s much ballyhooed January Margiela couture show, where it had been worn by both men and women, and where “making of” photographs on Mr. Galliano’s mood boards displayed the bruises left on the models’ flesh by the lacing. (Ms. Kardashian had been in the front row of that show.)In the incarnation worn this time around by Ms. Kardashian, the corset was re-imagined in an antique silver brocade, and paired with a sheer silver metal skirt covered in lacy flowers, twigs, and mirror shards, to reflect the evening’s dress code, “The Garden of Time.” The idea of suffering for fashion, it turns out, is everlasting.Gina Cherelus More