Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty

BY: Andy Shoulders

It’s so refreshing to see a designer feature diversity without being desperate, and who better to reinforce that idea than the queen of cool herself – Rihanna.

At Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty shows, all women are goddesses. Her September 2018 show at the Brooklyn Navy Yard (quite the trip for any fan to make, no matter how dedicated he or she may be) featured the usual suspects: Gigi and Bella Hadid, Joan Smalls, and Pamela Elsesser. However, Rihanna also made sure to include her favorite “It” girl of the moment, Slick Woods, who at the time was nine months pregnant and rocked the runway wearing nothing but panties, pasties, and an elastic harness. It was RiRi’s featuring of girls like Woods that made this message of diversity so cool and so necessary at the same time.

“It is mixing the really organic, authentic things of the world and meshing it with what we see in the future or what we hope to see in the future: women being celebrated in all forms and all body types and all races and all cultures. It’s a celebration of womanhood,” Rihanna told Vogue after the show. “I think it’s a shame women have to feel insecure or self-conscious about how their bodies look. They’ve been taught by society that only one thing works.”

At RiRi’s show that night, everything worked. Models of all shapes and sizes emerged from backstage and intertwined with dancers in a ritualistic performance, which served to emphasize the humanity of the nude & sheer pieces they were wearing. They were followed by a group donning iridescent looks, and finally by a troupe of sexy black ensembles. There was absolutely something for everyone: tiger print underwear for the bold, silky robes for the aspiring lolitas, and barely-there sheer pieces for future “Bad Gals” everywhere.

Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty is so successful and aspirational because its marketing and ad campaigns are designed with women, not men, in mind. With the #MeToo movement having gained such steam, lingerie leaders like Victoria’s Secret have found themselves losing relevance and failing to resonate with shoppers because of their hyper-sexualized ads and runway shows that are completely devoid of diverse body types. Thankfully, Rihanna is here to change that, and I, for one, am excited to watch her blaze that trail.