Rihanna posted a 45-second GRWM video from the 2026 Met Gala showing her custom Maison Margiela gown prep and an emotional mirror moment
Three days after closing out the 2026 Met Gala red carpet as its final, most anticipated arrival, Rihanna posted a 45-second get-ready-with-me video on Thursday (May 7) that answered every question anyone had about why she got there last. The clip is a compressed masterclass in what it actually costs to show up the way she does, and it ends with the singer looking into a mirror, visibly emotional, saying: “I feel so pretty! Oh my God!”
The video opens in motion. Rihanna is already in a sprinter van, already in her custom sculptural gown by Glenn Martens for Maison Margiela, already exclaiming, “I can’t believe we’re going to the Met!” The chaos of preparation is intercut with flashes of the carpet itself, where partner A$AP Rocky escorts her through a wall of flashbulbs in his custom Chanel by Matthieu Blazy wool pink robe, black satin lapels gleaming, silk and feather brooch in place. On the red carpet, Rocky told Variety she was “shining like a diamond.” The clip proves he was not wrong.
A Gown That Took 1,380 Hours to Build
The Maison Margiela look Rihanna wore, drawn from the house’s fall 2025 Artisanal collection, was not a dress you throw on. Inspired by the medieval architecture of Flanders, the region in Belgium where designer Glenn Martens is from, the silhouette is a draped column of duchess silk woven with recycled metal threads typically used for computer wiring. Its corseted bodice is covered in more than 115,000 crystal beads, antique jewels and chains. The embroidery alone required 1,380 hours of work. The finished look was accessorized with Desert diamond Glenn Spiro earrings and an Art Deco-style headpiece, with styling handled by longtime collaborator Jahleel Weaver.
Inside the GRWM clip, set to Afrobeats duo Rema and Arya Starr’s ‘Who’s Dat Girl,’ you see how the full look came together piece by piece. Rihanna applies her own makeup, selects from trays of high-end rings, necklaces and thick bangles, and sits still as metallic jewels are painted onto her face, including two diamond teardrops under her right eye, while curlicue metal swirls are threaded into her hair. At one point, a reporter’s voice is heard asking off-camera: “Who’s allowed to show up late for a Met Gala red carpet?” Rihanna fans her makeup dry and takes a smoke break. Another voice answers: “Rihanna?” The video cuts to a vintage clip of her cheekily winking at an interviewer.
The 11-Time Veteran Closes Out Another Carpet
This was Rihanna’s eleventh Met Gala appearance. She first attended in 2007 in a Georges Chakra gown and has since built one of the event’s most respected red carpet legacies. At the 2025 Gala, where A$AP Rocky served as cochair, she used the carpet to announce her third pregnancy in a custom Marc Jacobs look. This year, as one of the last to walk, she closed out a night that also marked Beyoncé’s return to the Met Gala steps after a decade away, alongside her daughter Blue Ivy, who made her debut at 14.
The video’s final seconds do what the entire 45 seconds builds toward. The gown is on. The makeup is set. The jewels are in place. Rihanna stands in front of a mirror, takes it in, and the composure breaks just slightly. “I feel so pretty! Oh my God!” It is, in eleven words, the entire point.
