Everyone and their grandmother knows that acclaimed Barbadian singer Robyn Rihanna Fenty dropped a history making luxury fashion brand eponymously dubbed “Fenty Maison” last month. But other than its name, how many of us actually know what this clothing line entails?
To give y’all a basic run down of the schematics, the Fenty fashion house is a partnership between French conglomerate LVMH (Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessey) and Rihanna. LVMH is the umbrella company behind brands like Dior and Givenchy. That alone is a big deal!
Rihanna said this in a statement about the LVMH Chairman: “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.”
The line features ready-to-wear pieces from shoes, sunglasses, jewelry and dresses at fair prices. (I’m kidding, it costs at least two kidneys and an arm to be able to afford the merch.)
Now before you start complaining about the outrageous prices I feel obliged to point out that this is a luxury line, okay? Luxury is a state of great comfort, abundance or elegance, especially when involving a great expense. Synonyms: Richness, costliness, opulence… I can’t get any clearer than this. The line is reserved for people who have both the willingness and ability to spend. The only way you can have a shot at affording even one piece from the line is if you work work work work work.
I’m clarifying this because her line has received a lot of back lash regarding how much the items cost. Now, many luxury lines have sold clothing at even more ridiculous prices, Rihanna just happens to be the first ethnic minority woman to do so. Some of the items include a corseted Japanese denim mini-dress retailing at $810/2,996,838 UGX, a cotton canvas blazer belted with a coordinating bum-bag at $1,100/4,069,780 UGX, oversized sunglasses at $460/1,701,900 UGX and a brass-and-crystal ear cuff at $420/ 1,553,916 UGX to mention but a few.
“The clothes are just too damn expensive!” says the broke millennial the house is not targeting to begin with. People are really out here criticizing her for selling clothing that’s “hypocritically” expensive, something that celebrities like Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, Paris Hilton and others have been doing unbothered for years. Apparently, everyone seems to have an issue when it’s a black woman doing it, but that’s a story for another day.
The major inspiration behind the aesthetic trip that is Fenty is none other than the 31-year-old songstress herself. Rihanna says she’s her own muse. She ideally projected her different personas and experiences into her designs, particularly her “immigrant perspective.” We stan a socio-politically woke queen.
Without further ado, here’s the simplified tea on the good, the bad and the downright confusing of this line.
The good:
Right off the bat, it’s important to point out the all-inclusive nature of House of Fenty. Rihanna seemingly brought in her experiences of marginalization due to circumstances beyond one’s control and turned it into something everyone can wear. Well, everyone rich anyway. Critics were particularly pleased by the curvy mannequins set up in one of the Parisian Fenty pop-up shops that depict realistic body shapes which encourage women to be comfortable in their own skin.
The brand also show-cases models of different races and ethnicities, a defining hall-mark of the Fenty brand quintessence.
Our Queen Riri didn’t stop there. In a bid to antagonize age discrimination in the luxury fashion business, she personally handpicked 67 year old woman Joani Johnson to model for the brand!
When asked about the range of diversity of the Fenty Maison, she revealed that she faces discrimination because of her gender and age. We don’t understand how one can get the nerve to discriminate against Rihanna, but she had this to say, “There are also other factors: I’m young. I’m new to the family. I’m a woman. Those factors do come into play, but I will not apologize for them, and 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.” Breaking boundaries and pushing limits, the devil works hard but Rihanna works harder.
The line has been described as classic by many and turns out that’s what the creator was going for. With corseted skirts and oversized coats. Rihanna said she was going for a timeless look in many of her designs, pieces that can be worn with other labels and still create a seamless ensemble. A good number of the outfits have a futuristic and aerodynamic vibe which changes the whole design game without over powering the style. The clothes offer for a gender-fluid simplicity that somehow manages to look complex.
So the reason we love Fenty Oh-so-much is- It’s Rihanna! The line literally shares a name with her. It’s interesting. It’s refreshing. It’s unapologetic.
The bad:
Rihanna fans are going to murder me, but this needs to be said…What-The- Actual-Heck?
A good number of these designs are the kind of pieces that only look good when drawn on paper, but when you try to manifest them into something wearable, they ending up looking like no one bothered to give them true conceptual thought process and fabric manipulation to get them to that 3D end point. End result? Things just ended up looking weird. Obviously the looks will sell because if there’s anything Fenty Beauty taught us, it’s that Rihanna’s very existence is the pinnacle of human advertising.
Some of the clothes are really nice. But we did not come here to play nice (says the broke millennial who the line was not targeting to begin with). It’s as if she was playing it safe in the weirdest of ways. Like she wanted to go all out and give us that gorgeous and spontaneous aura we know her for, but she…just…didn’t. I mean, we can’t really blame her because it’s her first time and all that. (Yes. Yes we can.) But COME ON! It’s all too very basic for Rih’s taste. Some of it is absolute rubbish. People, this line is coming from a woman who has taken the fashion and beauty industry by storm for years by taking risks and being sexy, but this line does NOT show it. I’m kind of dissatisfied. Nothing will be memorable. There really isn’t a WOW factor. We all love Robyn but she can do better.
My hope is that this collection is just a warm up. Perhaps Rihanna is first testing the market before trying to sell more experimental and creative collections. It’s really intriguing to see how things unfold but this certainly was a disappointing first showing.
The downright confusing:
Unpopular opinion; Rihanna is not a designer. She’s a stylish person and a stylist at best. A lot of her looks have visibly drawn inspiration from renowned brands like Balenciaga-which isn’t really a bad thing, it just kind of leaves someone at a loss. What exactly was this collection trying to do or say? I’m honestly torn between my love and loyalty for Rih, and my innate sense of aesthetics and garnered knowledge on fashion. We are confused because Rihanna said she projected herself into the collection, and then she gave us…this.
One can’t be too sure about their feelings towards the line. At the end of the day though, you don’t have to be sure. If we’re to take the words of the “man-down” hit singer herself “its badass, it’s daring, it pushes the envelope. It’s confident. It has a strong silhouette. I want everyone to wear it. But I’ve got to make it right for me.’
Bad girl Riri has a talent for doing lots of things, and doing them well. Singing, Acting, Makeup, dancing etcetera. This woman has got her hands in a lot of pies. Can we just say that she did the absolute opposite with this collection?
Let us know below in the comments below.
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