Rihanna: Five things we learned from her big interview
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Rihanna has done a her first big interview since she announced she was launching a fashion brand.
She's working with the French luxury goods group Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton (LVMH)
The label is called Fenty, after the singer's surname - Robyn Rihanna Fenty - and will launch in 2019.
She will become the black woman to lead a house under the LVMH brand, and the first woman to create an original brand for the group. Ahead of the launch she's done a interview with the New York Times.
Here's five things we learned from it:
1) She wants to be respected as a designer
Rihanna has always said she's interested in fashion and she says rather than just putting her name on something designed by someone else, she wanted to take the time to learn how to do it well herself.
"I'm very hands-on, so I wanted to take it slowly and gain respect as a designer... I'm learning so much: about the tailoring, the fabric — I'm seeing fabrics that I've never seen in my life."
2) She's not afraid to fail
Rihanna says that whether she's doing music or design, she's never satisfied with what she's achieved and always wants to move onto the next thing - even if that takes her out of her comfort zone and she could get it wrong.
"I have a tattoo that's written backward so I can read it in the mirror: "Never a failure. Always a lesson." How you gonna learn without making mistakes?"
3) Her name might mean "children of royals"
RiRi's full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty and her new label is called Fenty.
According to some experts, the name Fenty comes from the Spanish and Portuguese word "infante" which means infant or child, but was also a title for young royals.
Maybe she should meet Harry and Meghan's new baby - just saying?!
4) She doesn't have a favourite one of her albums
Rihanna says "I don't know what my favourite album is — I'm sure if I put all my favourite songs together, it would be a really sick album. Maybe I should do that one day."
Meanwhile she says, yes, she is planning to record reggae album but no, despite rumours on social media, she isn't collaborating with Lady Gaga or Drake.
5) She's passionate about diversity in fashion and makeup
The singer's cosmetics brand has been widely praised for its inclusivity as there's a real focus on makeup for darker skin tones. In 2017 she released her own range of make-up after becoming frustrated with the lack of options. When it was released, it hit the news because people were queuing outside shops for hours just to get hold of it.
Rihanna says: "In my own household, my father is half black, half white. My mom is black from South America. I was seeing diversity. That's all I knew. Growing up, I wanted to be darker, always.
"So, making makeup, it wasn't even a thing I had to think about. I don't even think 40 shades is enough! And so I added 10 more recently, and we're not gonna stop there."
- Published1 July 2020
