9:08 p.m. The rotunda of the Solomon R. Guggenheim museum was quiet. The Alaïa show was called for 8:30 p.m., we had passed the acceptable 30-minute wait time, and it was the end of a long first day of New York Fashion Week. Packed tight like sardines on round leather banquettes the fashion industry s heavy hitters made small talk with neighbors or tapped urgently on their phones; little islands of impatience.
A Wall Street Journal reporter leaned over and whispered one word: “Rihanna.” She d heard from her seatmate who d heard from a photographer outside. “Who else could hold up this room?” she correctly observed.
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A minute later the glass doors of the Upper East Side museum flickered with the reflection of flashbulbs from the sidewalk outside. The room was already quiet and then hush. Preceded by a flying V of security, in walked Rihanna, or rather she glided across the terrazzo floor. Clutching her custom Alaïa crystal mesh dress across her chest like Botticelli s Venus emerging from the shell, the nautilus of the Frank Lloyd Wright interior rising above her, the mononym queen appeared like a siren fresh from a shimmering sea. The sheer fishnet dress fell off her shoulders, the embedded crystals like glittering drops of water. Underneath, a pearl-adorned cream satin thong corset and strappy heels also decorated with pearls continued the aquatic theme. Her hair fell over her shoulders in soft, chocolate waves; a new hairstyle for the singer who launched her Fenty Hair collection at Sephora last month and has been wearing her hair a warmer honey shade.
Tonight the singer, brand founder, mother of two, and Vogue cover star several times over, came directly from receiving The Daily Front Row Fashion Media award with stylist Jahleel Weaver at the Rainbow Room where she wore a different Alaïa look, a cotton candy-like ruffled confection of a coat, and was directed to her seat next to a surprised Liv Tyler who helped the late arrival untangle the crystal fishnet of her dress from her satellite-sized diamond ring. Almost immediately the lights dimmed and the show began. Faces turned away from Rihanna and up towards the museum s helical ramp where the models at long last began their descent down the runway.
