“I am my own muse,” purrs Robyn Rihanna Fenty of her new luxury fashion label Fenty, created with the LVMH group, unveiled on Wednesday and now on sale online. “It’s badass, it’s daring,” she continues. “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.”
We have met in Paris, in a nondescript building, down a narrow street in the Marais. The building has been designated to launch her first “release”, named 5-19, and is clad in a dazzling Fenty-azure blue, but the only clue as to its current occupant is the phalanx of rock-faced heavies who stand around in suits.
This collection, the first under the auspices of LVMH, but actually the fifth if one factors in the four Fenty collections she did when the brand was part of the then Kering-owned Puma, is what she feels like wearing “now”. And it’s unexpectedly smart.