‘Course sometimes s–t goes down when there’s a billion dollars in the elevator! When Beyonce hit the red carpet at the 2015 Met Gala hours after most of the other stars posed for the cameras, she flawlessly worked her racy Givenchy gown and her high ponytail. See more photos of Beyonce’s Met Gala outfit.
But what most don’t know is that the “Flawless” singer’s effortless look was finalized in the elevator. No, not that elevator, but in the elevator of her apartment building on the way to the swanky event’s carpet.
Beyonce’s longtime hairstylist Neal Farinah (of the Neal Farinah Salon in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene neighborhood on Fulton Street) was on hand for the quick fix, and exclusively told Us Weekly’s Gwen Flamberg about the last-minute switch up.
“For the Met Ball we did that high ponytail but that wasn’t supposed to be the style,” Farinah revealed. “We did that in the elevator as she was on the way out.”
Originally Bey’s long locks were entirely wrapped up in “an asian-inspired chignon,” but Farinah said the Grammy winner felt the look might be too “costumey,” and made a spur-of-the-moment decision.
“Then we were in the elevator on the way down, and she looks at me and says ‘Neal, I want to change my hair, will you change my hair?’ And I said, ‘Honey, there could be cameras in the elevator,'” Farinah quipped, referencing last year’s infamous “Elevatorgate” in which her sister Solange Knowles got into a physical altercation with her husband Jay Z. “She says, ‘You have 5 minutes.’ And I said, ‘Girl, what do you want me to do with the hair?’ And she wanted a high ponytail. With Beyonce, she looks at herself and she says, ‘This isn’t right, let’s change it.'”
After years of collaborating with Queen Bey for events, music videos, and concerts, Farinah and the chart-topper have formed a close friendship. The longtime stylist greatly admires Beyonce for her comprehensive creative vision.
“Just like everything else we do we come up with a concept and then we present it to Beyonce,” he explained. “She is a powerhouse and she knows what she wants. I have to pay her a compliment. Beyonce takes us all out of our comfort zone, and she pushes us to be the most artistic we can be with her.”
