Rihanna Arrived at the 2023 Met Gala Wearing the Biggest White Flowers, Ever

If Blake Lively is considered the reigning queen of the Met Gala, Rihanna would like to have a word. Sure, Blake has been trolling the event for years, but just about every waits with bated breath to see exactly how Ri will either follow the theme or disregard it entirely when she arrives on the hallowed Met Steps. This year, with the 2023 Met Gala celebrating the life and work of Karl Lagerfeld, Rihanna, who was close friends with the late designer, wore an all-white Valentino gown with over-the-top, oversized floral details (camellias are a house signature for Chanel, though these seemed to be an homage and not a straight dupe of the house's famed white flowers).

Though she arrived long after the carpet wrapped, Ri (and A$AP Rocky) made it worth every minute. Her monochromatic white look included huge flowers that she also wore as a hood in some shots and long sleeves over a white ballgown. She added white sunglasses to her look and red lips as she continued to make her own rules when it comes to maternity wear. The gown was so big that it spanned many of the Met steps (something Ri is very used to) and Rihanna made sure that all eyes were on her as she disappeared into the party and officially shut down the red carpet.

Last year, Ri arrived with her boyfriend, A$AP Rocky, very, very late and in a long black gown that earned criticism for being a let-down after the superstar's more extreme, on-theme, and avant garde looks at the Gala. However, Ri being Ri, she brushed off the haters, saying that the gown was an interpretation of a black hoodie, a major statement in the wake of police brutality making headlines in America — and with the theme being "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion," Rihanna knew exactly what she was doing.

“Well, I wanted a look that seemed very powerful yet feminine, yet a black hoodie which is the thing that we’re usually incriminated by as Black people,” she told Essence. “I wanted to empower that and take that and make it mine and make it fashion.”

Of course, Rihanna's most memorable Met Gala look, ever, is probably the bold yellow gown she wore to the "China: Through the Looking Glass" exhibit back in 2015. The Guo Pei creation, which was a bold yellow gown with a long, dramatic train, became the butt of jokes and became a viral sensation, but at the same time, it became the stuff of Met Gala legend.