Rosé and CL Made K-pop History at The Met Gala

K-pop may sometimes seem like it’s already taken over the world, but one thing diehard fans of the genre know is there are always more barriers to break—and milestones to make. For example, before tonight, no female K-pop idols had ever walked down the red carpet at fashion’s biggest night, the Met Gala. The changed when Blackpink’s Rosé and former 2NE1 and current solo star CL walked down the red carpet.

Somewhat surprisingly, only male K-pop musicians (including Psy, Rain, and EXO member Lay) had managed to get a ticket to the event before. That’s even more surprising when you consider the specific case of CL. She came to prominence as a rapper in girl group 2NE1 back in 2009, and helped lay the foundation for relations between Korean music stars and Western fashion houses as we’ve come to know them. She’s walked the DKNY runway, sat front row at Tom Ford, Gaultier, Saint Laurent, Moschino, and more, and served as muse for American designers like Jeremy Scott.

So it was fitting that she was among the first female Idols to score a Met invite. She wore a blue denim coat over white briefs, a look somewhat evocative of the Statue of Liberty, designed by Alexander Wang.

As a member of Blackpink, Rosé is part of the newest generation of K-pop stars taking over both the world—and fashion. She’s not only an official Saint Laurent ambassador but also showed up alongside the house’s creative director Anthony Vaccarello. She wore a classic little black dress with an asymmetrical bow detail on the front.