Rihanna And LVMH Announce Closure Of Fenty Fashion Line
A hard one to hear for Fenty fashion lovers.
It might come as a shock to all Rihanna and fashion lovers that the luxury ready-to-wear Fenty fashion line is coming to a close. Launched by the Barbadian singer and LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton in Paris in 2019, this news arrives after less than two years of trading.
In a statement made to Women’s Wear Daily, LVMH confirms: “Rihanna and LVMH have jointly made the decision to put on hold the RTW activity, based in Europe, pending better conditions.” It’s understood that this is as a result of the challenging retail climate and the pandemic preventing Rihanna from being physically hands-on with the rest of the team at her Europe-based brand. According to WWD, skeleton staff remain at Fenty’s Paris headquarters to wind down operations, with the main distribution e-commerce channel expected to shut down in a few weeks.
All is not lost, however, as Rihanna’s other ventures will be prioritized. LVMH will continue to support Rihanna’s cosmetics companies, Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin, as well as her successful lingerie company Savage x Fenty.
Back in October, Chief Financial Officer of LVMH, Jean-Jacques Guiony, disclosed Fenty fashion’s third-quarter: “We are obviously still in a launching phase and we have to figure out exactly what is the right offer. It’s not something that is easy…I would say it’s still a work in progress…We have successes, we have things that have worked less well, so we have to sort in between the two and really decide what should be the core strengths of the offer in the years to come.”
Observant fans may have noticed how the brand has since been kept on the low; Fenty’s Instagram has been inactive for one million followers since January 1, and Rihanna’s collaboration with shoe designer, Amina Muaddi, was the last collection to drop in November 2020.
Albeit brief, Rihanna has been the first black woman to act as a founder, artistic director and CEO for a LVMH brand, and this has been the first time the luxury group has launched a fashion brand from scratch since Christian Lacroix in 1987. She’s championed body inclusivity through collections inspired by her own personal style and remains a talented entrepreneur.
According to reports, Rihanna is said to be “sad” about the circumstances, yet she hasn’t ruled anything out with LVMH in the future. She’s previously stated: “Designing a line like this with LVMH is an incredibly special moment for us…I couldn’t imagine a better partner both creatively and business-wise’.
Hopefully, Fenty won’t be the last influence that Rihanna has on fashion!
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