Rihanna & LVMH Split: The End of the Fenty Fashion House
Less than two years after its launch, Rihanna and fashion conglomerate LVMH have mutually decided to halt the Fenty fashion house. Coming as a surprise to all of us, the French house will be postponing further production on any Ready-to-wear (RTW) collections. Last October, chief financial officer Jean-Jacques hinted to WWD that sales were less than promising, “Obviously, we have the great help from Rihanna on this, but I would say it’s still a work in progress when it comes to really defining what the offer will be. 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 years to come.” Jacques says. LVMH confirmed the development exclusively to WWD this morning, via a brief statement saying:
“Rihanna and LVMH have jointly made the decision to put on hold the RTW activity, based in Europe, pending better conditions.”
Source: BBC
Rihanna at a Fenty fashion pop-up inside Galleries Lafayette Champs-Élysées
Although the future of Fenty as part of the LVMH fashion family is still hazy, their support for Rihanna has not wavered. According to WWD, L Catterton, a private equity company in which LVMH has a stake in has led a $115 million Series B fundraising round that will be put towards the expansion of Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty (SXF) lingerie line into the retail sector.This means that we may soon find SXF lingerie in brick-and-mortar stores all over the U.S. and possibly Europe.
Both LVMH and Rihanna both added to their statement to WWD that they “...reaffirm their ambition to concentrate on the growth and the long-term development of Fenty ecosystem focusing on cosmetics, skincare, and lingerie.” The news is not a surprise, given that the Fenty universe has seen commercial success in those specific markets. The Fenty fashion house witnessed encouraging sales records of eyewear, shoes, and denim and found some initial traction in department stores. Market sources also estimate that Fenty Skin, Fenty Beauty’s newest project, racked up sales of $30 million in less than four months.
So what was it that put the Fenty fashion house on Ice? It seemed as though the fashion house had no odds stacked against it and was sure for success. Rihanna, is a fashion icon despite her come-up as a singer, she led the house and designed the collections; she had LVMH resources at its disposal, putting Fenty on the same production level as fashion houses like Dior, Givenchy, and Fendi. How could so much potential just go up in smoke? To answer these questions we must dig deep into what factors caused the falling of such a monumental fashion venture.
Source: Harper’s Bazaar
Rihanna at a Fenty fashion pop-up in NYC
Fenty’s biggest obstacle was the COVID-19 pandemic. The house launched in 2019, just a couple of months before the virus was introduced into the U.S. in February of 2020. The U.S. shut down soon afterwards, with most of the country being under lockdown by March 2020. This meant that all public events, fashion included, were cancelled for the majority of the year— no collection launches and no public appearances by Rihanna. The first few years of an emerging brand are always crucial. A fashion house has to work tirelessly to build a lifestyle around garments that they can later sell to their consumer. With 2020 taking place virtually, it was hard for the brand to develop a sellable lifestyle for fashion house consumers.
Have you ever seen anyone actually wearing Fenty in real life? We all love Rihanna, but are we actually wearing her? Did we get enough exposure to Rihanna- style high fashion to fall in love with the Fenty clothing?
LVMH’s involvement with the brand is worth looking into. Why was an LVMH house not secured a spot during Paris Fashion Week? The success of the Savage x Fenty lingerie shows goes without question, so Rihanna’s ability to produce a runway show is not up for debate. Fenty seemed to be an uncharacteristically low-key project for LVMH, while they’re used to extravagant runway shows and billion dollar advertising campaigns.
The fashion house had a few pop-up events in stores such as Bergdorf Goodman and Galeries Lafayette Champs-Élysées, but main product launches were toned down; events were only announced on Fenty fashion’s website and on social media. The fact remains that LVMH gave Rihanna a shot with a huge platform, as the Fenty fashion house is the first brand they have launched from scratch since they set up a couture house for Christian Lacroix in 1987.
Source: Vogue
Fenty fashion pop-up inside Bergdorf Goodman’s
Does the celebrity-turned-designer model true success in our modern fashion industry? Collaborations between smaller brands and celebrities have proven to be financially successful, but was maintaining a fashion house that produces 8 collections a year sustainable for someone like Rihanna?
Rihanna has been a fashion icon for over a decade, giving us some of our most talked-about moments in fashion. Her ability to dictate taste and style is unrivaled, but is her role as a curator separate from her title as a creator? We look to someone like Rihanna to tell us what’s hot from the fashion pool that we’re already in, but was the pressure of creating a line where every garment is as show-stopping as she is, just too much? With less than two years under the house's belt, it might be too early to speculate on the long term success the brand could’ve had. Rihanna will always be a fashion icon to us, as head of a fashion house or not. We will keep our eyes peeled for what Rihanna has in store with Fenty Beauty and Savage x Fenty.