Guo Pei dressed Rihanna in a yellow cape with a fur-trimmed train for the 2015 Met Gala.
Rihanna wore the extraordinary yellow gown and cape at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s 2015 Costume Institute Gala. The event’s theme was “China: Through the Looking Glass,” and the garment’s long embroidered train became one of the evening’s defining visual moments.
Chinese designer Guo Pei created the piece. It reportedly took around two years to complete, and Rihanna encountered the designer’s work after seeing the gown online. The look is often casually called Rihanna’s “yellow dress,” but its designer and elaborate cape construction are central to its identity.
The Met exhibition explored how Chinese aesthetics influenced Western fashion, while the gala brought those ideas into celebrity culture. Rihanna’s entrance also helped introduce Guo Pei to a much broader international audience. The dress later became one of the most widely discussed Met Gala garments of the 2010s.