Bad Girl

Luxury Conglomerate Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton have announced they are “pressing pause” on the Fenty by Rihanna Ready to Wear Collection after only two years,

speculation around the reason for this included that perhaps the pandemic and logistics were the barrier, Rihanna, who as Creative Director and CEO became the first Black woman to head up an LVMH brand, is based in the US and her design team are in Paris, but in an age where advances in virtual technology are making cross-atlantic meetings easier than ever that seems an unlikely scenario.

The disconnect between the Grammy Award winning stars young musical fan base and the high price point seems a more plausible explanation. Its no Surprise from the owners of Dior, Givenchy and Celine, that the Fenty collection was at a Luxury price point, with hoodies at £250 and dresses and shoes upwards of £500, it was the first time the French group had launched their own brand since Christian Lacroix in the 80s so they obviously wanted it to pack a punch, but  pricing out those who want to buy into the Bad Girl Singers style could have been a big mistake.

Its not all bad news for Rihanna, her Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin collections, also owned by LVMH continue to be a huge success, as does her Savage x Fenty Lingerie collection (which is a collaboration between Rihanna and Tech-style)  but tellingly the prices on both the make-up and the underwear are significantly lower than the clothing, with a Fenty bra and Lip Stain both retailing for under £20.

The intimates and the beauty  have all the compelling factors associated with RiRi, celebrating diversity and inclusivity through their models and unmatched range of foundations for every skin colour and with Rihanna as the face and body of them, they become are equally as appealing minus the hefty price tag. Did LVMH mis-judge the spending power of Rihannas fan base, or was is that luxury shoppers weren't keen on spending such a lot on a celebrity collection. Lets see if they un-pause in the future, or just press stop for good.