LVMH And Rihanna Announce The Closure Of Fenty Fashion House
LVMH And Rihanna Announce The Closure Of Fenty Fashion House. French Luxury goods conglomerate LVMH announced in a statement that “Rihanna and LVMH have jointly made the decision to put on hold the RTW activity, based in Europe, pending better conditions.” This closure is a result of the negative effects that the Covid-19 pandemic is having in the world of business across different industries. Rihanna cannot be in Europe to oversee the business as international travelling is prohibited due to the pandemic.
While LVMH is calling this a ‘hold’, Women’s Wear Daily sources report that Fenty’s e-commerce site – the main distribution channel for Fenty fashions – will go dark in the next few weeks and a skeleton staff remains at the Paris headquarters of Fenty fashions to wind down remaining operations.
Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty in 2017 when she was 29 years old. Previously she had collaborated with MAC Cosmetics, as well as released 10 fragrances via Parlux Ltd, but Fenty Beauty was her first solo cosmetics brand. “Inspired by a worldwide community beyond traditional boundaries, FENTY embraces a fundamental freedom: a freedom from convention and rules. Women are forces of this earth. We are multifaceted, complex, vulnerable yet bulletproof, and FENTY speaks to all of our intricacies. Some days I want to be submissive, many days I’m completely in charge and most days I feel like being both….so it was imperative that we created a line versatile enough to embrace and celebrate us in that way.” said Rihanna in a statement on Fenty’s website.
LVMH and Rihanna decided to expand their relationship beyond cosmetics into a full-fledged fashion company in 2019 and Rihanna had already imbued the collection with her high-low aesthetic, incorporating intricate leatherwork and meticulous techniques like boning, then queering the looks by playing with gender tropes.
LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton is the French luxury goods conglomerate that owns and operates the fashion lines Dior, Celine and Loewe, among others. Rihanna’s label was the first that LVMH chairman and C.E.O. Bernard Arnault has launched since his company Financière Agache partnered with the couturier Christian LaCroix 32 years ago. The pop star became the first black woman in charge of a major luxury fashion house in Paris. Rihanna is uniquely positioned to forge a path for black owners in luxury fashion.
