There are the get-ready videos you and your friends make, and then there’s the GRWM clip Rihanna posted on Thursday (May 7) of the intense prep it took for her and partner A$AP Rocky to (just barely) make it to the Met Gala on Monday night.
You can see now why the perennially fashionably-late-to-the-party “This Is What You Came For” singer was one of the last A-listers to walk the carpet at the annual fashion Super Bowl earlier this week in the 45-second clip chronicling her prep. It opens with the 11-time Met veteran exclaiming, “I can’t believe we’re going to the Met!” as she travels in a sprinter van in her stunning custom sculptural gown by Glenn Martens for Maison Margiela.
The eye-popping outfit hand-sculpted, bronze and silver creation inspired by medieval architecture took nearly 1,400 hours to embroider according to Vogue, and from the first seconds of the recap, RihRih is already locked in and ready to show it off with a series of icy Blue Steel-like carpet poses, with and without the equally turned-out-in-style Rocky.
We see the couple posing and walking together as flashbulbs illuminate their outfits and commenters opine on their looks, with Rihanna stopping at one point to sassily exclaim, “excuse me!” With good reason, since her dress required a second, of fifth look, thanks to a corseted bodice with more than 115,000 crystal beads, jewels and chains, while Rocky looked dapper in a custom Chanel by Mattieu Blazy wool pink robe with black satin lapels, accented by a silk and feather brooch and two hand- and ear-fulls of Chanel jewelry.
With a soundtrack provided by Arya Starr and Rema’s “Who’s Dat Girl,” we see Rihanna putting her own makeup on, choosing from a series of trays filled with high-end rings, earrings, necklaces and thick bangles and then having metallic jewels painted onto her face, with two diamond teardrops under her right eye and her hair filled with curlicue metal swirls.
At one point a reporter asks, “who’s allowed to show up late for a Met Gala red carpet?” while Rihanna fans her makeup dry and enjoys a smoke as another woman’s voice says, “Rihanna?” and the video cuts to a vintage clip of the singer cheekily winking at an interviewer with a smile.
The camera then lingers on Rihanna’s imposing-looking dress hanging on a rack, zooming in on the metallic details before and after she slips into it and revealing that, as Rocky told Variety, she was, indeed, “shining like a diamond … she’s shining.”
“We going to the Met!!!” Rihanna yelps as the party heats up during the ride over and Rocky astutely directs the camera away from him and over to RihRih as she does last-minute touch-ups in the van while he enjoys a pre-celebration beverage to the strains of N.E.R.D.’s 2008 party anthem “Everyone Nose.” Rocky also leans in to show off his neck full of custom bling, including a green skull with diamond eyes and a bejeweled crucifix.
The clip ends with Rihanna looking in a mirror and seemingly getting misty as she says, “I feel so pretty! Oh my God!” while gazing at her glittery ensemble.
Vote for your favorite look from the 2026 Gala here.
