A$AP Rocky’s colorful Met Gala quilt was donated to a thrift shop years before ERL designer Eli Russell Linnetz decided to make it a part of the rapper’s look for the event. On Tuesday (Sept. 21), a woman by the name of Sarah took to Instagram to reveal that her great grandmother was behind the generous donation.
“So my great grandmother’s quilt was donated to an antique/thrift store a while back,” she wrote next to a side-by-side photo of the quilt and the rapper’s outfit. “When I saw the #metgala photo, I realized instantly that it had to be the same quilt.”
“I read the Vogue article about the designer finding the quilt in Southern California, and with his office not that far from us in Venice California, I demanded that my mom go look for the photos of it on our old bed,” she went on. “Looks like great grandma Mary went to the #metgala with @asaprocky.”
According to Vogue, after purchasing the quilt from the thrift store, Linnetz used it as a base for Rocky’s look. “I quilted on things that were important to me from my dad’s bathrobe to my boxers,” he explained. “Then, we used these amazing plaids and flannels, and embroidered my family’s name all over the quilt.”
He continued, “There’s an irony to it that I liked, using the clothing of the deceased to create this beautiful new quilt [in their honor] that lasts forever.”
Rocky and Rihanna were the last to arrive at the 2021 Met Gala earlier this month, where Rih’s oversized Balenciaga coat was equally the talk of the town. During an interview with Essence, she told Gia Peppers that she “wanted a look that seemed very powerful, yet feminine, yet like a Black hoodie, which is usually the thing that we are incriminated by as Black people.”
“I wanted to empower that and take it and make it mine and make it fashion,” she added.
In another interview, she revealed that her and Rocky planned their looks separately.
“We weren’t even sure if we were going to go, so separately we were planning our looks just to be prepared,” Rih told E! News. “We ended up getting ready together and going, and I didn’t even realize we were on a carpet together until somebody said, ‘You’re making your debut,’ and I was like, ‘Oh, shit.’”
See Sarah’s post below.