Carnival is Rihanna's Met Gala. Even when she misses the first Monday in May—like this year, for example—the "Diamonds" singer still shows up to her home country of Barbados for their annual festivities. And just like the Met Gala, Rihanna is always the most anticipated attendee at the function, known for her lavish custom costuming.
Though the signer is typically draped head-to-toe in layers of textured fabric for the Met Gala (often accompanied by a long, dramatic train), at the Crop Over Festival, Rihanna's looks are famously risqué.
More often than not, her Carnival ensembles are embellished with plumes of rainbow feathers (a signature of the celebration) and hundreds of sparkling crystals. This year, she upheld that tradition, attending the August 5 Grand Kadooment parade wearing a custom lingerie set made of yellow, topaz, and light pink gemstones.
Artfully crafted to fit her exact measurements, the glimmering design curved snake-like up both legs, around her waist, and over her breasts and shoulders. She wore a matching headpiece and wings the color of a Barbados sunset, plus Gianvito Rossi metallic sandals that resembled golden vines.
This marks Rihanna's return to Crop Over Festival after a five-year hiatus. She last attended in 2019, wearing a textured mini dress covered in baby pink feathers, her hair styled in bantu knots.
Though the star always sticks to the traditional feathers-and-rhinestones dress code, she always mixes up her color story. Two years before her all-pink ensemble, in 2017, the star attended in shades of neon pink and what would later become known as brat green. She sported a pink rhinestone bra with fringed statement shoulders and matching wings, and paired the look with a contrasting mermaid blue wig.
In 2015, however, her color palette favored the dark and moody. Her plumes were black and teal, while her bra featured iridescent black stones with an oil slick finish. Two years before that, she wore an all-white look that sparkled.
Whether Carnival or the Met Gala, no one does it quite like Rihanna.
