- Ciao!

- It's Cardi and I'm going to talk to you guys today

about my first day at the Met Gala,

and what you guys put me through.

- Let's [laughs] let's rewind.

[intro music]

[camera shutters]

- This way?

[camera shutters]

- So much was happening in my life in 2018.

I was moving, I was focusing on doing my album

and thinking about my baby and,

that's a lot!

That's a lot that year.

- Cardi and I first actually physically met in Miami.

- He hired me to do Art basil.

How do you say that? Art Basel.

- Art Basel.

- Can you imagine if I would have said art basil?

Like basil [laughs]

so funny.

- I was like, I wanna have that cool chick Cardi

who sings that Bodak Yellow song.

- He was just so welcoming.

He is always so welcoming,

like he always makes you feel good.

- I was kind of shocked that she seemed so reserved.

She was very sweet.

- And he is just like so excited,

like his clothes really represents him.

His personality matches his clothes,

so he matches me, he matches my energy.

- Shortly after, she would've come to my show in February.

And then it just kind of stuck to me like,

she should go to the Met with me, she should be my guest.

- For him to take me to the Met gala,

it was just like genius.

It was just meant to be.

[upbeat music]

- The theme was heavenly bodies,

fashion and the Catholic imagination.

- When I heard the theme,

I was just so excited because I'm Christian Catholic.

- I was really excited because there was so many ideas

that it could be.

Thinking about religious art, pietas, sculptures,

Madonnas and child--

- All I thought about was just royal queen.

- Also, I knew secretly that she was pregnant.

She had divulged that with me.

- All I was thinking about is, like,

Mother Mary.

Because I was pregnant, like I really wanted to do that

but like, you know, a modern version.

- That became the new surprise to have to deal with

in this equation.

- And I wanted to look like royal, queen, motherhood.

He sent me sketches of course,

and of course everything looks really amazing

on the sketches.

[camera shutters]

- The first fittings are always funny.

You know what I'm saying?

Because your hair be messed up, your face be messed up.

The dress was really big.

- She was swimming in it when we did the first fitting.

- And I'm like um,

I don't like dat.

[laughs]

- We had to take it in immensely

to make it fit perfectly

and that was a challenge with all the beading,

as you can imagine.

- When everything came together I was just like wow

- It's a little bit of a trial and error,

you start doing some embroidery samples.

- It came back even better than the sketch.

You could see it, you could see the work,

you could see the time, you could see the effort.

- I think that if we estimate,

the amount of people working on it, doing the handwork,

24 hours, what is that 24?

24 times two weeks which is 14 days,

33,600 hours.

- That's individual hourly work.

- Dang, isn't that crazy?

- I mean when you see it in person

and you see every little small detail.

- And then there's always the final thing that has to change

because that's just the way it is.

- I told Jeremy Scott that I wanted like a big headpiece.

- When we were doing the fitting, she really wanted

this kind of crown.

- Just the headpiece is such a bold statement.

[explosion noise]

- You can really tell when you really collaborated

with the designer and when the designer just let you,

just dressed you.

You know what I'm saying?

It just shows how much you love fashion.

- We set about making one in a very short amount of time.

- I think like the third time of the fitting,

I saw the headpiece and I almost even forgot about the dress

because that's how amazing the headpiece was.

- I think she was right to want that headpiece.

I think it really topped off the look

and it made it really even more in theme.

- Like I said, that's what you see the saints have.

[upbeat transition music]

- Let me tell you something,

days at the Met gala is always very stressful.

The day before, the day after, the month after,

is always very stressful.

- Well the day of the Met is always a bit

like Cinderella going to the ball.

- You gotta wax your lip, you gotta wax your eyebrow,

you gotta [makes obscure noise],

you gotta make sure you, your legs is nice and shaved.

- Lord of mercy, I can tell you there's been times

that people have been in a hair and makeup black hole

for hours and hours and hours,

and that's one of my worst nightmares.

- [laughs]

So you know us women, well,

we are very specific about red.

So we decided to do a red lip, right?

And I just felt like the red didn't match.

[laughs]

It wasn't the red that I wanted, so

my makeup artist she was just running back and forth

getting different type of reds

to match the jewels on the dress

and the crown,

it was just like ugh,

just the little things just sets everybody off.

- With the hair,

- I love when my real hair is out,

I just feel like a lioness,

like I just feel so beautiful,

I feel so natural like I feel like it represents me.

- She was dead set that she wanted to have this hair.

This volume.

- I mean my hair don't get that big,

you know what I'm saying?

I need more inches.

- So she went that direction,

and again I think she was completely right.

- The one thing that me and Kollin always do

when we have like major red carpets or something events,

we always debate our nails.

Nobody like kisses my ass this and that,

if they feel like something doesn't go,

they just gonna tell me that,

I don't feel like it goes.

And we actually agreed on the nails,

'cause my nail artist don't be having it neither.

[upbeat transition music]

- I distinctly remember realizing that she seemed nervous

when were on our way there.

- I was really anxious, I was really nervous.

- And I just said to her in the car, I said we got this.

- He always makes me feel like

no pressure, it's all good, it's all fun, be happy.

- I hope that gave her a little bit of peace and calm.

- It was a lot of pressure,

'cause it's like I'm not doing it for me,

I'm doing it for this person as well.

[upbeat jazz music]

- Once I hit the red carpet, I don't know

I just felt like this confident,

I just felt so royal.

- She lit up, and there she was.

The Cardi that we all know and love.

- [Liza Koshy] You look like an angel!

- Yeah you too, you're beautiful.

- Oh, stop!

- It was so many paparazzi,

but once I hit that carpet I'm like,

hold my purse.

- Cracking jokes, telling the photographers,

you know, he's my baby daddy.

- When you see my look,

I feel like you just don't see a pregnant woman.

- I feel like you see royal goddess woman, motherhood.

- It was fun.

We had a wonderful night.

- You guys don't even know that start

I was like woo child,

I saw how happy Jeremy was,

and that makes me happy too.

Like, I feel like I always have like a connection with him,

I love him so much.

- It was just a really beautiful, beautiful night.

And I have that to cherish with me forever.

- Thank you guys!

I feel like I'm a family with Vogue,

I don't know why.

I need my office there.

[light piano music]