Fenty: Everything We Know About Rihanna’s Fashion Line So Far

Back in January, WWD reported that Rihanna was secretly working on a fashion line with French fashion behemoth LVMH, which owns several of the world’s most important fashion brands, like Christian Dior, Louis Vuitton, Celine, Fendi, and Givenchy, plus every kind of liquor you need for a good party (Hennessey, Chandon, and Chandon, to name a few).

Today, LVMH formally announced what will be called Fenty Maison, a brand which is “centered on Rihanna, developed by her, and takes shape with her vision in terms of ready-to-wear, shoes and accessories, including commerciality and communication of the brand,” according to a press release.

In the press release, Rihanna said, “Designing a line like this with LVMH is an incredibly special moment for us. [LVMH CEO Bernard] 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.” It will show its first collection in a matter of weeks, with some outlets reporting that it will debut on May 22.

Already, the brand is doing things in a radically different way. Here’s everything we know about the brand’s history, strategy, look, and the people making it happen.

It’s historic.
Fenty Maison brings a whole slate of “firsts.” It’s LVMH’s first new brand since the conglomerate launched Christian Lacroix’s ready-to-wear brand in 1987 (LVMH sold that brand in 2005). Rather than giving young designers their own lines, LVMH (like its rival, Kering), primarily installs young visionary designers at legacy houses: putting industry darling Nicholas Ghesquiere at Louis Vuitton in 2014, for example, and Jonathan Anderson at then-sleepy leather goods brand Loewe in 2013. Remember: LVMH didn’t even give Hedi Slimane his own brand. Instead, he took over Celine.

Rihanna will also be the first woman of color to lead a luxury fashion house.

It’s coming sooner than we thought.
Rumors of the line began circulating in January, and piped up again when the Business of Fashion reported on the filings made by a French accounting firm in December of last year. But the announcement today confirms that the collection will debut in Paris later this month; the format and exact date are not yet clear.

It’s probably been in the works for years.
Rihanna was a major supporter of Christian Dior during Raf Simons’s tenure, becoming the first black woman to serve as a face of the house in 2015, and was often photographed with Arnault at the house’s shows.

Furthermore, her Fenty Beauty line, which she launched in the fall of 2017, is a subsidiary of LVMH. At the time of Fenty Beauty’s launch, she announced that her line with Puma was ending. As Shelby Ivey Christie, a former Vogue writer, pointed out earlier this year on Twitter, Puma is owned by Kering, LVMH’s direct competitor, so by first establishing her beauty brand almost two years ago, they set the stage for her fashion empire. (Her subscription service lingerie brand, SAVAGE X FENTY, which launched in May of last year, is a separate enterprise owned by TechStyle FashionGroup.)

It will be game-changing and directional—and maybe insanely expensive.
Unlike other major players in the fashion and music industries, Rihanna doesn’t shift culture by making splashy announcements. She just does things her way, and everyone follows suit. The fact that she’s showing her collection outside of the traditional fashion schedule that debuts womenswear in March and September each year, and that she is establishing her own singular brand rather than collaborating with another brand for credibility (much as Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen launched The Row)—all these suggest that Rihanna’s line will handily establish a new world order for the fashion industry, at least leading many other designers and brands to rethink how they do things.

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