Cardi B: style star 

We already knew Cardi B was a star but over the past month, she’s proven herself as an emerging star in the high fashion world. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. A few weeks ago, Cardi was at New York Fashion Week but no one was talking about her clothes. Well, they were talking about her shoes – one shoe in particular. It was all about the flying heel Cardi hurled in the direction of Nicki Minaj’s face. On Twitter, some of the conversation was about whether Cardi (the instigator of the fight) would lose her seat at the fancy high fashion tables, banished forever for daring to be the Cardi B she’s always BEEN. People were worried she acted too “ghetto” for the style elite and that she would be shunned for it. 

Does it look like she’s been shunned? Earlier this week, Vanity Fair wrote a post called, “How Cardi B Became the Most Exciting Fashion Week Star".  E! Online declared her the “Breakout Style Star of Fashion Month”.  And Harper’s Bazaar, the very publication that threw the ICONS party where Nicki and Cardi got into it, wrote that Cardi B was, “Out Here Serving High Fashion LEWKS at Paris Fashion Week".

Cardi has been serving some really great looks. She’s been solidifying the point we’ve exhausted over and over on this site that fashion can be strategy. When Lainey wrote about Blake Lively’s recent dumbass remarks about the “double standard” of commenting on her fashion, she pointed out that Blake doesn’t get it. She doesn’t understand that “more and more women have turned style and fashion into power.” 

Cardi B has never been more powerful and she’s using her fashion to cement that influence. She was just in Milan strutting around in Dolce and Gabbana. 

And still slaying the caption game, if I may add. Her next look in Milan was even better than the first. 

Then, she SHUT DOWN Paris in this Michael Costello work of art. 

She performed at the Etam show in Christian Cowan. 

And showed off some skin in Mugler.

She channeled the hip-hop greats who came before her (Lil Kim and Foxy Brown) in the aptly-titled FOXY coat by Saks Potts. 

You get the point. Cardi B has been putting in WORK. None of these looks are subtle. All of them distinctly scream “CARDI!” while still belonging to highly-respected, high-fashion brands. Cardi has not lost her seat at the table. She has posted up, creating a space for herself that hasn’t been filled by a female rapper since Nicki and still, you could argue that she’s doing it better. 

Cardi addressed the speculation that she was “over” after the NYFW incident on Instagram in true Cardi B form. 

"When my time is over, y’all will see when my time is over. My numbers will be going down, I’m not going to be on the charts, people will stop f-cking with me. You’ll see. But God is not, God’s saying it’s not my time yet so just relax, enjoy the show and worry about your life."
 

“People will stop f-cking with me” is the part I want to isolate because that’s exactly it. As long as these brands keep dressing Cardi and her numbers stay up, as she says, she’s good. Those two things aren’t mutually exclusive. Cardi showing her work at fashion week is directly related to her dropping music people still care about. It’s all part of the package that is Cardi B: The Star. Her latest single “Taki Taki” with DJ Snake, Ozuna and Selena Gomez dropped last night. 

Cardi is having a great week.