Mariah Carey isn’t about to let a fashion emergency dampen her festive mood this Christmas season.
The five-time Grammy winner made a surprise appearance at New York’s Lincoln Center as part of the French winery Moët & Chandon’s holiday party Monday night. At one point during the event, she treated guests to an intimate performance featuring her hits “Heartbreaker,” “Honey” and, of course, “All I Want For Christmas Is You.”
At one point during Carey’s set, however, one of the metallic straps on her black Jonathan Simkhai dress became unfastened.
Fortunately, Carey summoned members of her team ― including stylist Wilfredo Rosado and hair stylist Danielle Priano ―for some onstage assistance to ensure the wardrobe snafu didn’t become a full-on crisis.
In true diva fashion, she broke into song with some ad-libbed lyrics befitting the situation, as seen in footage Priano shared on Instagram.
“We need to get this dress together,” she crooned, as Rosado, Priano and makeup artist Kristofer Buckle worked their magic. “Save me tonight!”
After the performance had wrapped, a visibly relieved Carey noted on Twitter: “Dress malfunction or on stage improv? How about both!”
“It was very, very close to being a full-on scandal, but we made it work,” she quipped in a short video shared with the tweet. “It was just a freestyle moment.”
With the holiday season in full swing, Carey once again has plenty of reasons to celebrate. Thanks to a surge in December airplay, “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is once again riding high on the Billboard charts.
And later this month, she’ll perform a series of four “Merry Christmas to All!” concerts in New York and Toronto. Those performances will be captured for posterity in a two-hour television special set to air on CBS and Paramount+ on Dec. 20.