Cardi B defends himself after an obvious faux pas at the 2024 Met Gala.
The 31-year-old “Up” rapper stole the show in a huge black ball gown von Windowsen on the red carpet on Monday, but caused a different kind of stir when she appeared to forget the designer Sensen Lii’s name in an interview.
In conversation with FashionThis is Emma ChamberlainCardi was asked a standard question that included, “Are you feeling great?” Who did that?”
“I feel GreatCardi replied emphatically, appearing to pause before answering the second part of the question. “It’s this amazing designer. “They’re Asian and everything,” she said.
Cardi caused quite a stir online because of this statement.
“I see a lot of you on Twitter faking choking,” Cardi said in a video that was reportedly first posted on Instagram but has since been shared by fans on X (formerly Twitter).
“I want to be clear, right, first things first,” she began. “When I was on the red carpet I was very scared because the dress was supposed to be on a small podium and I practiced how to pose on the podium, but on the carpet I wasn’t allowed to use the podium.” So I had a lot of things on my mind and was pushed to the front of the line.
She continued: “When I was being interviewed, I somehow forgot to say the designer’s name because his name is a bit complicated. So I thought, ‘Damn, how are you supposed to pronounce his name?’ My mind was just racing.”
Cardi insisted her use of the term “Asian” was not meant to be offensive. In fact, their intention was the opposite.
“I said ‘Asian designer’ because I knew the designer was Asian, but I didn’t know, I wasn’t sure what nationality the designer was,” she said. “And I find it offensive if I said, ‘Oh, some Chinese designer’ or ‘some Korean designer’ or ‘some Vietnamese designer’.”
She added: “I don’t want anyone’s nationality to be confused.”
As for the online chatter speculating that she could be banned from future Met Galas because of the incident, the artist remains defiant.
“For y’all to talk about, ‘She don’t know,’ ‘She’s not fashion,’ ‘She’s not invited this year,'” Cardi said, “Baby, I’m Cardi B.”
Cardi also gave Lii his flowers on social media and gave her warm praise on her Instagram story.
“I have to thank @windowsen again. I chose you because of your incredible talent and you truly made this Met Gala a night to remember, @sensenlii,” she wrote over a video of herself posing in the dramatic dress.
Lii responded by reposting her message and adding, “Thank you @iamcardib” with a heart emoji.
The look definitely made an impression at the event. The dress was so large that it took eight people to carry it up the museum’s famous steps.
Lii – founder and designer of independent fashion house Windowsen – told ET about the inspiration for the dress.
“I associated fertile, black soil with the theme – like the fertile soil used to plant crops and flowers,” he said in a statement. “The design is floral, reminiscent of trees, flowers and soil in a garden. The entire dress is made of almost three thousand meters of organza and consists of an inner and an outer layer.”
Lii added: “The collaboration took almost two months from planning to execution. Our entire studio worked around the clock on this project, making it an intense but rewarding experience. Designing for an artist like Cardi B is a great honor, but also full of uncertainty.” For me, the final decision about what to wear may not be uncertain until the last minute, until I’ve also flown to New York for the fitting and the final touch-up to the dress.”
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