It can be a challenge to make an impression on the Met Gala’s red carpet, especially when the competition includes Diana Ross wearing a feathered overcoat with an 18-foot-long train, Bad Bunny toting a bag fit for a bowling ball, and Rihanna arriving fashionably late — with a baby bump.
But there are spectacles and there are spectacles, and André 3000 fit nicely into the latter category when he showed up to the festivities on Monday night with a grand piano strapped to his back.
“I’m sorry,” the actress Natasha Lyonne said while being interviewed on the red carpet, “there’s a piano coming.”
It was a statement piece and a nifty bit of marketing by André 3000, a rapper and musician whose appearance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute Benefit coincided with the release of his new album, “7 piano sketches,” which he described in an Instagram post as “improvisations” and included a drawing of himself in a version of his Met Gala outfit. The instrumental piano album follows one in which he focused entirely on the flute — a sharp departure from his days in the rap duo Outkast.
Beyond the promotion of his new album, his outfit on Monday was carefully planned, both to highlight the event’s theme, which centered on Black style and dandyism, and its dress code, “Tailored For You.”
The piano was undeniably bespoke. Created by the design and fabrication company Pink Sparrow, it was modeled after a Steinway Model S Baby Grand piano, which weighs nearly 600 pounds. But Pink Sparrow’s version was “reimagined” at 75 percent scale, the company said in a statement. It was made of foam, a thin type of plywood and 3-D elements to weigh only 30 pounds, complete with straps and pedals.
Still, André 3000 made sure to emphasize the illusion of its heft by donning a workwear-inspired jumpsuit that he said was a collaboration between Burberry and his newly revived fashion brand, Benji Bixby, which used to be known as Benjamin Bixby.
He also carried what appeared to be a black garbage bag.
The stylist Law Roach worked with Burberry on the musician’s look. In a red carpet interview, he implied that the musician had worn the piano in the car on the way to the event.
“Dandyism is an everyday thing,” André 3000 said in an interview after his arrival. “It’s an attitude when you wake up. We’ve been doing it for years. You know, I’m just happy that there’s a night that puts a spotlight on it. And we’re just here to have fun doing what we do.”
He did not wear the piano all night. After his red carpet appearance, he removed it in a separate room in the Great Hall of the Metropolitan Museum and made a wardrobe change, slipping into a black number with a heart stitched in the chest. The outfit was another Benji Bixby and Burberry collaboration, he said.
Will Welch, GQ’s editor in chief, also wore Benji Bixby.
“At this point,” André 3000 said as he prepared to enter the gala itself, “it’s all about just getting together and sitting at tables and talking and actually seeing some of your friends. The hard part is done.”
A weight, in other words, had been lifted off his back.
Callie Holtermann contributed reporting.
