Inside the former Emigrant Savings Bank in downtown Manhattan, money was on a late start for A$AP Rocky‘s AWGE show. It was 30 minutes past the listed show time, and the venue was mostly empty. Invited guests were still waiting for the main doors to open, although a few early VIP arrivals were already inside the room, mingling as jazz music played overhead. It might have felt serene, if not for the palpable anticipation growing for one VIP’s imminent arrival.
Rihanna and the rest of the crowd entered the room just before 9 p.m. once the singer took her seat — with a mob of photographers capturing the moment — and the show quickly got started.
After A$AP Rocky took his bow, VIPs including A$AP Nast, A$AP Illz, Julia Fox, Young M.A and former boxer Eric Kelly headed downstairs to the backstage where A$AP Rocky was holding court. After a brief huddle off to the side with Rihanna, the rapper headed into a mirrored AWGE-branded former vault to field questions about the collection.
“I wanted to break the fourth wall,” said Rocky of his concept for his third collection. The set design featured glam stations, where models stopped for touch-ups during the show. “I guess that’s why ya’ll see us getting ready, the imperfections. There was so much that went wrong live, but it was like, f–k it, that’s what makes the show all the merrier. It makes it better.”
Asked what’s next on the agenda, the rapper-designer-actor deferred his answer to a higher power.
“Whatever God got in store for me,” he said. “Not to get all religious on you, but I’m a spiritual guy. I go with the flow. I’m getting to live out all my different creative endeavors, and God has been really great to me.”
But first, he was headed across town to Soho House. “I wanna go home, and just chillax and wind down and s–t,” Rocky added. “But I’ve got a freaking after party.”