The story behind the vintage quilt ASAP Rocky wore to Met Gala

ASAP Rocky wore a piece of American quilting history when attending the Met Gala draped in great-grandma Mary's handmade quilt. Photo / Getty Images

From the hand's of a California grandmother to the red carpet of the Met Gala, ASAP Rocky's red carpet quilt has quite a history.

Fashion's biggest event, the Met Gala, took place on September 13, attracting the biggest names and the boldest looks to the red carpet. Among them, draped in a vibrantly coloured quilt, was American rapper ASAP Rocky.

The 32-year-old rapper arrived fashionably late with his famous girlfriend, pop star Rihanna, by his side. Rihanna wowed in Balenciaga couture from Nicolas Ghesquiere's fall 2021 collection, while Rocky was draped in a multi-coloured quilted blanket, reminiscent of the ones our grandmothers used to crochet. In this case, it turns out that is exactly where the quilt came from.

Rihanna wore Balenciaga couture from Nicolas Ghesquiere's fall 2021 collection, while Asap Rocky is draped in the handmade multi-coloured quilted blanket. Photo / Getty Images

An American woman named Sarah went viral on Instagram last week when she shared a photo of Rocky and Rihanna on the Met Gala red carpet alongside a photo of the quilt laying on a bed.

"So my great grandmother's quilt was donated to an antique/thrift store a while back. When I saw the #metgala Photo I realized instantly that it had to be the same quilt," Sarah explained in the caption.

"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 explained of how she made the connection.

"Looks like great grandma Mary went to the #metgala with @asaprocky," Sarah confirmed on Instagram.

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The designer behind ASAP Rocky's ensemble, Eli Russell Linnetz, told Vogue that he had found the quilt at a vintage store and felt that it perfectly captured the Met Gala's "In America: A Lexicon of Fashion" theme.

Linnetz then worked with quilting guru Zak Foster, who "specialises in burial and memory quilts", to add extra touches and embellishments to great grandma Mary's quilt for the big fashion event.

When Sarah's photo first went viral many commenters assumed that her family were angered by the use of the obviously personal quilt in such a public setting. That was not the case at all, a fact that Sarah returned to Instagram to clarify in a second post.

"I posted this because I found it amazing that some thing that my great grandmother made out of love for my mother, to be used to keep her warm, and was donated so that it might keep somebody else warm or sold to raise funds for a lovely charity, ended up being used for an amazing statement art piece by amazingly talented people who took it to the next level," Sarah enthused in her caption.

Sarah also confirmed that great grandma Mary's quilting talent had not been sold off and the family kept many of her creations close by.

"To everyone who is concerned that we gave away this quilt, please don't be worried we still have many quilts and afghans and handmade lovey's that she left behind for us."