Rihanna and A$AP Rocky Made a Last-Minute Couple Debut on the Met Gala Red Carpet

Rihanna may be one of the Met Gala’s most coveted guests, but that fact didn’t seem to sway the Bad Gal’s opinion for attending the Costume Institute’s red carpet on time. While Billie Eilish, Lil Nas X, Gigi Hadid, and Kim Kardashian flooded the Metropolitan Museum of Art in their showstopping looks, Rih was nowhere to be found. There was plenty of speculation ahead of the gala whether Rihanna would be in attendance—Twitter users swore up and down there would be another moment comparable to her 2015 Met appearance, when she wore a yellow, fur-trimmed cape by Guo Pei. But by 9:30 PM, the official Twitter live stream with hosts Keke Palmer and Ilana Glazer had ended, and Rihanna Robyn Fenty was nowhere to be found.

But suddenly, Rih footage surfaced around 30 minutes later. The musician and businesswoman was spotted leaving the Carlyle Hotel wearing Balenciaga couture from Nicolas Ghesquière’s fall 2021 collection, with A$AP Rocky on her arm. She then appeared on the Met Gala carpet while the rest of the attendees were inside checking out the exhibition. Just as a thunderstorm rolled into New York City, Rihanna sought refuge underneath the Met tent; she wore an enormous black gown with a puffy, high collar and glittering beanie underneath. To give the dark look some shine, she wore over 267 carats of Bulgari High Jewelry and archival diamonds—pairing a high jewelry necklace with a heritage necklace and two matching heritage bracelets along with a single high jewelry earring. Rocky, meanwhile, donned a patchwork quilt-like cape swathed around him by the Venice Beach, California brand Erl.

Speculations that the two musicians have been dating have swirled for months—and the rumors were officially squashed in May, when A$AP called Rihanna “the love of [his] life” in a GQ cover story. This is their first official red carpet appearance together.