There was a Rihanna-sized hole on Monday’s Met Gala red carpet. But yesterday, after skipping fashion’s night out due to illness, Rihanna returned to her street-style ways with a pared-back, but undeniably chic, evening look.
The Bad Gal was spotted on a date night with her boyfriend, A$AP Rocky, in New York City. For the occasion, Rihanna kept things fairly casual—by RiRi standards, that is—in an all-black look. She layered a zip-up hoodie below a shaggy fur coat and slipped into a pair of flowy satin pants. From there, Rihanna glammed up her look with black slingback heels, rounded shades, silver necklaces, and an oversize Chanel flap bag. The Fenty Beauty mogul stayed low-key as she flashed her honey-blonde hair from inside the hood of her jacket. Just last week, she unveiled a pastel pink hairdo while out and about in Miami.
Rihanna is always one of the more—if not the most—anticipated attendees during the first Monday in May. And, in fact, she had been teasing her red carpet look in the weeks leading up to the gala, which left us thinking of all the ways she could have interpreted the night’s “The Garden of Time” dress code.
“I’m actually keeping it real simple this year,” she told Extra in late April, adding that she had two gowns picked out. “It’s gonna come to what my makeup and what my hair is going to do,” she said, adding her look would be “very simple-ish [when] compared to everything I have done.” Rihanna assured reporters, “I am showing up for dinner.”
Rihanna has, of course, become a regular at the Met Gala, creating some of the annual event’s most memorable moments—from her viral Guo Pei cape dress in 2015 to last year’s bump-baring Valentino look. However, as the red carpet thinned out on Monday evening, it became clear that the Bad Gal wouldn’t be gracing the Met steps. Shortly before the gala concluded, People confirmed that the mogul had to pull out of the event at the last minute due to a stomach flu. The news was later confirmed by Rihanna herself.
“It’s a stomach flu,” she told a fan. “You already know the disaster this is, luckily won’t be for too long. Maybe something I ate or someone I was in contact with in Miami. Thanks for checking on me.”