More details are emerging about Rihanna’s new fashion label.
Just 10 days ago, the parent company of Dior and Givenchy, Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton LVMH, announced Rihanna’s Fenty fashion house would launch under their massive umbrella. The deal made her the first female designer of color at the largest luxury brand worldwide.
On Monday, LVMH revealed the ready-to-wear clothes, shoes, jewelry, sunglasses and more will debut online on May 29 and at a Paris pop-up on Friday, May 24. The “Diamonds” singer also released a campaign video on Monday, featuring footage of a blue ball in the maze of her Fenty logo spliced with a sped-up video of models prepping for a photoshoot in front of backdrops of global cities.
“Women are forces of this earth. We are multifaceted, complex, vulnerable yet bulletproof, and Fenty speaks to all of our intricacies,” Rihanna said in a statement. “Some days I want to be submissive, many days I’m completely in charge and most days I feel like being both … so it was imperative that we created a line versatile enough to embrace and celebrate us in that way. The collections are easily worn together and meant to be staples in our wardrobe. I’m just hyped to see people in my clothes, man.”
In an interview with T Magazine, out Sunday, Rihanna confirmed there will be no runway show for her “disruptive” and “not traditional” brand.
She said partnering with LVMH was a “no brainer” and spoke about her business strategy. “I never just wanted to put my name on something and sell my license. I’m very hands-on, so I wanted to take it slowly and gain respect as a designer,” she said. “I didn’t have these dreams when I was little. I had a dream of making music; that’s it.”
In fact, seeing 2000s stars like Hilary Duff and Miley Cyrus dabble in makeup discouraged her. “I used to be afraid to step into the whole celebrity makeup world. … It diluted their personal brands. It made me think, ‘I’m not going to do this, because you lose your respect and credibility.'” So she decided that for every collaboration she did outside of music, she would use her surname Fenty — “So Rihanna stayed the music, the person. But these other brands are called Fenty.”
When asked if she’s felt like an outsider in the fashion industry as a black woman, Rihanna replied, “I will not back down from being a woman, from being black, from having an opinion. I’m running a company and that’s exactly what I came here to do. I don’t know if it makes people uncomfortable or not, but that’s not even my business, you know? I do know that the reason I’m here is not because I’m black. It’s because of what I have to offer.”
Rihanna went on to give details of the collection, noting that there are several classic pieces, the suits are made of cotton canvas, and that she uses her own masculine-meets-feminine style as her muse, pairing pearls with sweatpants. As for her design team, she’s not afraid of working with young designers just out of college. “I’m welcoming everyone’s vision here,” she said.
Although Rihanna didn’t attend the Met Ball this month, she’s continuing to establish her influence in fashion through the expansion of her brand. Last week, she brought on The Hate U Give star Amandla Stenberg as the first Hollywood ambassador for Fenty Beauty, launched in September 2017. “I wanted to become a part of the Fenty family because it’s one of the few beauty brands that make me feel like myself! Fenty Beauty’s whole ethos makes me feel empowered and excited to let different facets of myself shine,” Stenberg said in a statement.
See Rihanna’s new Fenty fashion video below.
