I am a big fan of the Pop Queen Rihanna, my favourite moment was seeing her perform in Paris. When I heard the news about Rihanna and LVMH both deciding to put the RTW line on pause, my heart went ping. I had to join the conversations on Clubhouse about the news. I had to give commentary. With the brand Fenty, Rihanna was the first black woman to create an original brand at LVMH, among Dior, Givenchy, Celine and Fendi. LVMH wanted to enter the drop culture market, but it seems they did not do their research.
Rihanna and LVMH
We all know that Popstars starting a clothing label is not new news and the lines not living up to expectations are also the norm. The one question we all have is why they went with such a considerable price point that her target audience could not afford. The Row and Rihanna are two different markets.
Was it her idea of coming of age collection? It turns out that something even Rihanna cannot do: sell high fashion clothes during a pandemic. She had the perfect opportunity to enter the drop culture market of fashion, so what happened Riri?
LVMH, the French luxury group, announced the Fenty fashion house to great fanfare in 2019. But have revealed that, with Rihanna, they had “jointly made the decision to put on hold the ready-to-wear activity, based in Europe, pending better conditions.”
Which mean in lamins terms, that means the luxury fashion Fenty empire will no longer produce any collections, even though it is not officially closed, and Rihanna remains a part of LVMH.
The brand Fenty
Discussions are currently underway with the brand’s employees about their future, though Bastien Renard, the label’s managing director, remains in position. The news was first reported by Women’s Wear Daily.
Yet, it is a reminder that just because someone is a celebrity and has an enormous cultural following, it does not mean they will make great, original clothes. I feel RiRi should have stuck to the basics and worked her way up. Maybe started with a sort of Marc by Marc Jacobs collection first, then upped her price range to the Luxury market.
Drop Culture Fashion
Fenty was only the second luxury fashion maison LVMH ever attempted to build from scratch (the first was Christian Lacroix. LVMH opened in 1987 and sold in 2005). Fenty was initially presented as the group’s foray into the future: a new brand, run by a Black woman with great style and widespread influence but no formal old-fashioned design training. Which is not her fault it would have been cute to see her go-to design school like Kanye instead of her taking the J-Lo route.
Can big brother potentially save the day? On Wednesday, as news about the LVMH partnership spread, Savage x Fenty issued a statement outlining the new funding round details. Jay-Z is an investor through his firm Marcy Venture Partners. We suggest she play her old boyfriend Drake’s song started from the bottom and rethink her strategy and build her team because we think she can still make a bang if she keeps it real with core fans. Give us something we are proud to wear like her Puma collection.
However, there was no mention of the Fenty clothing line, nor the suspended experiment with LVMH. We will all have to stay tuned, for a new album and the next Fenty drop date. exclusive. Then make edits to our list of Black Designers to support in 2021.