UPDATE: The stylists behind that Rihanna dress the internet's been imploding over all day have spoken. And - what a surprise - they say the dress was all Ri Ri's idea. 'It’s so naked,' admitted Mel Ottenberg to Style.com. 'I don’t know if it’s shocking—I’m with her all the time, so my shock gauge is off, but I told her that I thought she was ready for this dress a while ago, and that I wasn’t. I’m the prude, and I’m just catching up.'
He also said that 8 people stayed up all night making the dress, which was designed by Adam Selman. 'So many people didn’t sleep last night,' he laughed. Quite frankly, we're not surprised. But we doubt Rihanna was one of them.
Rihanna might have mysteriously left Instagram over her predilection for freeing the nipple, but there's one place those moderators can't adjudicate over her choices of undress; the red carpet.
Rihanna took the opportunity to show off her body in a ’20s flapper-style sheer dress at the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Awards. The creation, designed by Adam Selman, harks back to that time Britney Spears wore a sequin catsuit to the 2000 VMAs. Or that time Rose McGowan wore a see-through sequinned dress to the 1998 VMAs.
Except, made out of 216,000 Swarovski crystals, the dress and cap gave off an entirely more elegant vibe. That's not to say Britney or Rose looked bad in their outfits, but Rihanna's nudity, all dressed up in diamonds, seems a lot more fashion and a lot less salacious.
Plus, a fur wrap was on hand for her to cover up when she felt shy (and our eagle eye can spot some beige knickers that subtly covered up the parts Rihanna feels most modest about). Fittingly, Rihanna was there to win the Fashion Icon Award, which has previously been given to Lady Gaga, Kate Moss and Nicole Kidman.
Vogue editor Anna Wintour – who saw no problem with the outfit – handed Rihanna the award, saying she 'speaks to her fans with her every look. And what she says to them – and I include all of us in that group – is that it's fun to feel a little boyish one day and dress up like a dazzling diva the next. I think that's what she was going for tonight.'
Anna added: 'the point is to be audacious, even jaw dropping or button pushing – and yes we know she enjoys pushing buttons – while remaining true to yourself.'
Rihanna had this to say, too: 'Growing up I didn't have a lot of access to fashion. But, um, as far as I could remember, fashion has always been my defence mechanism. Even as a child I remember thinking, "She can beat me, but she cannot beat my outfit"'
She added: 'I think fashion has been an outlet for me to express myself, to speak up, to say who I am and to be very loud about it at times and I just like to have fun with it.'
So what's Rihanna saying with this outfit? Probably showing how few fucks she gives, how happy she is to be adorned in diamonds (she did make a song about them after all) and how far she's come. And, as a little aside, she inadvertently did a big eff-you to Instagram.
They've said their rules - which have seen the removal of Grace Coddington, Petra Collins,Scout Willis and Rihanna's accounts for exposing nipples – are 'fair' and make Instagram a 'safe place' (woaaah scary nipples!) but today that dress is doing the rounds on Instagram so fast, we don't think the moderators are going to be able to keep up.
We can't quite do the maths but if you go to the Rihanna hashtag, you'll see actual hundreds of photos of her in the dress from last night. We tried to count, but we got thumb-ache from all the scrolling. However, over on Twitter, people aren't so impressed. When you type her name into its search function, 'thot' comes up as the next suggested search term. What does 'thot' mean? 'Hoe'. Which is a shame, because we think she looks great, and in context for that event.
The thing is, as much as people might find nudity boring through its ubiquity – we see boobs every day, everywhere – there's something that has got us all talking about Rihanna's dress this morning. Emperor's new clothes? We think not.
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
Picture: Getty
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.