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"  Photo: Getty Images By now you&amp;#039;ve seen it everywhere\u2014on blogs, on Twitter, on Instagram even: the completely sheer crystal-covered dress Rihanna wore to last night&amp;#039;s CFDA Awards. And its ubiquity was well deserved: Rihanna was truly a vision. The man behind the dress? Adam Selman, a designer best known for creating costumes for pop stars like Rihanna (and Lady Gaga and Gwen Stefani), who also recently launched his own line. Here, he tells us how the dress came to be: How did the dress come to be? From a fashion perspective, this was a big one for all of us. Before we had even discussed the design, I talked to [Rihanna&amp;#039;s stylist] Mel Ottenberg and told him how much I wanted to make something for the CFDA event. It meant a lot to me. We were in L.A. with Rihanna for the MTV Movie Awards about a month ago and we all started discussing the CFDA look. We agreed on the idea of a crystal dress. It happened super organically. Next thing you know, I had sketched the designs, made some samples. Rihanna tweaked a few bits, and we were off to the races! Related: Rihanna Wore a Naked Dress to the CFDA Fashion Awards (NSFW) Did Rihanna ask specifically certain things? She was very exact with what she wanted. She always is. We dyed the mesh to be her exact skin tone. She also asked me to mix plain crystals in with the colorful ones, and in person it made such an amazing difference. It added a depth I wasn&amp;#039;t expecting. Her instincts on these decisions are always spot on. Related: All the Looks From the CFDA Awards Let&amp;#039;s do some numbers: How many crystals? How long did it take to make? How much did it weigh? It was a lot. We had to keep going back for more. The final count ended up being over 230,000 crystals. Rihanna, Mel, and I have always wanted to do a chainmail dress, but we wanted to do it in a fresh way. I took fishnet fabric and the crystals were all hand applied by my amazing team. We started [applying them] on Memorial Day. It took so much longer than expected. We had people crystaling &amp;#039;round the clock until 3pm the day of the event. It took 20 people to get it done. A lot of them didn&amp;#039;t sleep! It was an amazing accomplishment and team effort. The effect was surprisingly lightweight and liquid. What underwear is she wearing? Ummmmm\u2026.. I wish I had made enough time to make the panty, too. Next time. What was your first thought when you saw it on? Mel did a fitting. I was in Colorado at my sister&amp;#039;s wedding (which made the situation even crazier) When I saw it, I cried. Real tears! They sent me a video of her wearing it, and she was just beaming. I usually don&amp;#039;t get outwardly emotional about these things, but this one really struck a chord. We miss Rihanna a lot on Instagram. This was her first big moment out that we were able to see her in all her glory. Did that put any added pressure? Not at all. That never came up. It was just important to make this moment major and have the fashion world take notice. And come on! Lighten up people. She looked incredible in every curve of her glory.  What is one thing about this dress that other people wouldn&amp;#039;t know? People keep referring to it as Josephine Baker, Gatsby, and Marilyn Monroe. But let&amp;#039;s not forget about Whitney! And the legendary Bob Mackie! People should always be talking about Bob Mackie. He&amp;#039;s one of my idols. "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.elle.com/fashion/news/a15415/adam-selman-rihanna-dress-cfda-awards-interview/>