PARIS, Jan 18, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Pop idol Rihanna is preparing to launch her
own luxury brand with the world’s biggest fashion conglomerate, according to
reports Thursday.
The Barbados-born superstar, who already has her own highly successful
Fenty sportswear label, is in secret talks with the French giant LVMH,
according to Women’s Wear Daily (WWD).
The industry bible said the group, which owns such iconic brands as Dior,
Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Givenchy, is assembling a gang of top designers for
the project.
LVMH, which is owned by the fashion titan Bernard Arnault, said they could
not comment.
With her huge fan base and tens of millions of social media followers,
Rihanna is one of the most powerful style influencers on the planet.
A regular on the front row of fashion shows, and particularly at Dior in
Paris, the singer has also proved herself to be a canny creator.
As well as her Fenty line she upped sales at Puma when she became its
creative director, and has also dipped her toe into lingerie.
Her Fenty Beauty operation — which involved a hook-up with LVMH — racked
up sales of more than $100 dollars (88 million euros) within weeks of its
2016 launch.
WWD said that her planned luxury brand, which will take in ready-to-wear as
well as leather goods and accessories, could be launched alongside her ninth
album later this year.
A new large-scale luxury label — especially one led by a black woman —
would be huge development in the fashion world.
The top end of the market has been traditionally hogged by historic French
and Italian houses.
Despite its dominance, LVMH have not started a luxury brand from scratch
since Christian Lacroix in 1987.
Black American designers have, however, been making dramatic inroads of
late, with Virgil Abloh the most talked about designer at Paris men’s fashion
week.
The creator, whose parents come from Ghana, now heads LVMH’s treasured
Louis Vuitton menswear line as well as his own hugely cool Off-White Label.
Rihanna, 30, who shot to fame with her “Music of the Sun” and “Good Girl
Gone Bad” albums, is locked in a legal battle with her father over the use of
the Fenty name.
She is suing her father Ronald Fenty over the use of the family name in his
company, Fenty Entertainment, according to reports on Wednesday.