This past Monday would have marked the 2020 Met Ball, otherwise known as one of the most anticipated, glittering events on the fashion calendar. Unfortunately, the coronavirus had other ideas.

After much deliberation, the event was cancelled in March, meaning this year the red carpet remained untread by the industry’s biggest designers, models, editors, and more than a few choice celebs, and, most importantly, there were no looks whatsover for fashion fans to dissect (see: annihilate across social media).  

Though the event didn’t actually happen IRL this year, there was still a glimmer of some hot high-fashion Gala gossip on the Twitter TL last night, when one user posted what they said was “the dress Rihanna was supposed to wear to this year’s Met Gala”. Designed by Guo Pei, the creative talent behind RiRi’s much-memed yellow gown from 2015, the dress in question had supposedly been shared by her stylist Jahleel Weaver. 

Naturally, we immediately looked into the credibility of said Tweet, mainly due to the fact we so wanted to believe it (our eyes are starved of beauty right now, let’s be real), but sadly, it’s at this point the plot thickens.

Also landing on the timeline around the same time were a series of similarly worded Tweets, claiming that a number of other stylists had supposedly revealed the same dress was set to be worn to the Gala by their own clients: namely Taylor Swift, Ariana Grande, and Beyoncé. Unsurprisingly, in the hours that followed, people began to realise something was amiss. “Is it Beyoncé or Rihanna (both would eat) Y’all heaux playing,” said one user, while another simply Tweeted “Wait a second..?” 

Now, as things so often do on the social media hellscape that is Twitter, things have descended into absurdity, as users continue to post images of the dress alongside the people their stylists supposedly optioned it for. 

Everyone from Harry Styles, Billy Porter, and Lil Uzi Vert (here for all of them tbh), to Lana Del Rey, Dua Lipa, and Lady Gaga seemingly had their eye on the Chinese designer’s haute couture creation, while at the other end of the scale, some slightly more offbeat thinkers pointed to Danny Devito, Grimes and Elon’s newborn baby X Æ A-12, and UK soap star Natalie Cassidy as among those in the running to turn the look on the red carpet (and what a red carpet that would be). 

So what’s the conclusion? With no response from Weaver, unless this was going to be some wild, avant-garde art piece that really would have seen some of the Gala’s biggest stars turn up in the same dress (@ Queen Solange), we think it’s pretty safe to say there’s no truth to the claims – but that’s not to say we’re not going to enjoy the memes while they last. 

Revist the 2019 gallery above.