Rihanna and LVMH are shutting down Fenty, the singer's luxury Maison. "Rihanna and LVMH have jointly made the decision to put on hold the RTW activity, based in Europe, pending better conditions," an LVMH statement confirmed to WWD.
The e-commerce site will close down in a few weeks, while some staff will remain at the Paris headquarters to shut down the rest of the business. The move comes during the pandemic, which kept Rihanna from the Fenty team in Europe, but enabled her to remain close with the U.S.-based Fenty brands; Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin, and Savage x Fenty.
It'll be interesting to see whether the Fenty RTW brand will ever reopen, or whether Rihanna would ever re-launch without LVMH — after all, she is the real brand here. Rihanna has 90 million Instagram followers, she can do whatever the fuck she wants. She has more than enough global clout to work with whoever she wants, whenever she wants. She could even completely go it alone, should she so desire.
Rihanna is still working with LVMH though — now the partnership is prioritizing Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin, as well as working on new projects. Savage x Fenty is also expanding, after a $115 million Series B fundraising round to expand its retail operations. The move also marks LVMH’s first involvement with the lingerie brand, after investments by L Catterton (LVMH's private equity arm).
Launched in May 2019, Fenty was the first luxury group to be built from scratch since launching Christian Lacroix in 1987. It was also the first time a woman launched an original label at LVMH, as well as the first time a black woman led an LVMH fashion house.
