https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/10/fashion/rihanna-lvmh-fenty.html?action=click&contentCollection=T Magazine®ion=Footer&module=WhatsNext&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&moduleDetail=undefined&pgtype=Multimedia
By
Vanessa Friedman
Rihanna at her Savage x Fenty show in New York in 2018.CreditNina Westervelt for The New York Times
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Rihanna at her Savage x Fenty show in New York in 2018.CreditNina Westervelt for The New York Times
Get ready for the second coming of Fenty.
On Friday, LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, the world’s largest luxury group, officially confirmed not only that the fashion line created by Rihanna was becoming part of its gilded stable, but also that the first products from the new company would be unveiled — in a few weeks. Thus the disruption of the status quo begins.
Rihanna will become the first woman to create an original brand at LVMH, the first woman of color at the top of an LVMH maison, and her line will be the first new house created by the group since Christian Lacroix in 1987. It joins such storied heritage brands as Dior, Givenchy, Celine and Fendi and positions Rihanna as a breakthrough designer on a number of levels.
The move is a formal acknowledgment from the establishment that a multi-hyphenate pop star/actress/image-maker now has as much global currency, name-recognition and (yes) influence as designers like Hedi Slimane and Nicolas Ghesquière. That there is no need to limit them to the street or sportswear world. And that growth in the luxury industry may no longer come just from reinventing old heritage names, but by embracing a new diverse, digital, direct communication-enabled reality.
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“Designing a line like this with LVMH is an incredibly special moment for us,” Rihanna, 31, said in the statement. “Mr. Arnault has given me a unique opportunity to develop a fashion house in the luxury sector, with no artistic limits. I couldn’t imagine a better partner both creatively and business-wise, and I’m ready for the world to see what we have built together.”
originally leaked in January, but this is the first time either party has spoken about their agreement. It marks an evolution in the celebrity-style synergy, which has progressed from one-off collaborations (Selena Gomez and Coach) to longer term deals between sports brands and stars (
Beyoncé and Adidas) to, now, the sort of brand that Emilio Pucci built.
first-quarter revenues in April of 12.5 billion euros ($14.1 billion), an increase of 16 percent — and the emphasis on “multicultural,” in a time when many luxury brands are suffering from
charges of cultural insensitivity and discrimination, is significant.
LVMH has been making strides in recent years to right the gender balance in luxury, appointing the first female designers of
Givenchy in 2017 and
Dior in 2016. It has also begun to address the need for diversity, naming Virgil Abloh as the
first African-American to head Louis Vuitton men’s wear in 2018.
Fenty, however, has made inclusivity of all kinds — size, race, gender identity — part of its identity from the beginning.
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Rihanna with her fans at the launch of Fenty Beauty's Stunna Lip Paint in Dubai in 2018.CreditFrancois Nel/Getty Images For Fenty Beauty
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Rihanna with her fans at the launch of Fenty Beauty's Stunna Lip Paint in Dubai in 2018.CreditFrancois Nel/Getty Images For Fenty Beauty
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before moving to Paris for two seasons and unexpectedly charming the normally suspicious French fashion world with the kind of clothes that, she
said at the time, “Marie Antoinette would wear if she was going to the gym.”
A Behind the Scenes Look at Rihanna’s Fenty x Puma Show
26 Photos
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Dolly Faibyshev for The New York Times
Though she has not shown ready-to-wear on the runway since September 2017, there is no reason to expect the new version of Fenty will be significantly different from the old, though presumably it will benefit from the manufacturing and materials savoir-faire of LVMH.
In other words, expect haute streetwear of many sizes and shades.
Both parties declined to comment further on the plans for a show or stores, but the inclusion of a website —
fenty.com — in the statement suggested that the focus, for the beginning at least, would be digital, yet another departure for a group that practically invented the concept of the flagship as brand temple.
LVMH’s first foray into original couture, Lacroix, did not end too well; it sold the brand in 2005, and the name is now largely associated with an unrelated sparkling water. Whether this story will rewrite the playbook of luxury remains to be seen. But the first chapter is about to begin.