Why didn't Rihanna and Blake Lively attend the 2024 Met Gala? – USA TODAY

It’s a wrap on the 2024 Met Gala red carpet, but the event doesn’t feel quite complete with some of the fundraiser’s biggest fashionistas missing this year.
Rihanna and A$AP Rocky, Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds, Beyoncé, Billie Eilish and Lady Gaga were among the A-listers who have made a big splash with their looks in recent years but were noticeably absent from this year’s Met Gala, which featured a theme of “Sleeping Beauties: Reawakening Fashion.”
According to People and Entertainment Tonight, Rihanna had to miss the event due to coming down with the flu. USA TODAY has reached out to her reps for comment.
The 2024 dress code was “The Garden of Time,” which was interpreted in a number of innovative ways by the stars in attendance, including the Kardashian-Jenner family, gala co-chair Jennifer Lopez, R&B hitmaker Usher, reggaeton star Bad Bunny, “Challengers” fashionista Zendaya and Vogue correspondent Emma Chamberlain.
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The “Diamonds” songstress, who’s made a name for herself as one of the Met Gala’s most highly anticipated guests, did appear to have plans to attend the fundraiser just a few weeks ago. She told British Vogue last month that she was going to promote her brands by wearing “Fenty something! Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, Fenty Savage” to the 2024 Met Gala.
She also revealed her favorite Met Gala look was the yellow Guo Pei gown she wore in 2015, which trailed a massive train behind her as she ascended the museum’s steps.
“Nobody will ever forget that and I will never forget the feeling of discovering that designer based off of the design challenge that Anna (Wintour) gave me,” she told British Vogue.
As for Lively, one of her most head-turning looks over the years was the Atelier Versace gown she wore to the 2022 Met Gala for the “Gilded Glamour” theme, which – when the train was unveiled – revealed an ode to the Statute of Liberty and its green patina that has formed over its original copper surface. She and Reynolds were also co-chairs that year.
Though once a fixture at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual gala, Beyoncé has not attended since 2016, when she wore a custom latex Givenchy dress adorned with a constellation of floral and bead embellishments.
Billie Eilish, formerly one of the fundraiser’s co-chairs, was in attendance at last year’s Met Gala, where she wore a sheer black lace dress by Simone Rocha with matching gloves.
In 2019, while representing the annual fashion event as co-chair, Lady Gaga outdid herself with an eye-popping sequence of four looks, which started with a massive fuchsia gown by Brandon Maxwell. After removing the dress to reveal an asymmetrical floor-length black number, the pop star unveiled a hot pink dress underneath.
Her final look in the red carpet performance had Gaga stripped down to a black bra and underwear set with glittery stockings.

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