Pon De Replay
The concept of celebrity endorsement is nothing new. In the world of fashion, creative collaborations with celebrities have been on the rise, especially among forward-thinking brands that realise just how powerful such joint ventures can be. When global sportswear brand, Puma, first decided to collaborate with Caribbean singing superstar, Rihanna, some people took notice, but in many ways it was also dismissed as a fad fuelled by the celebrity machine. They would ultimately be proven wrong.
Robyn Rihanna Fenty, the Barbados-born beauty who stormed the charts in 2005 and is now one of the world’s biggest-selling female artists, turned 29 this February. Yet, since taking control of her public image more than 10 years ago, has become not only an international style icon, but also a fierce businesswoman with a successful fragrance, as well as beauty and skincare lines bearing her name. She expressed her desire to work in fashion early on in her career, and brands like Manolo Blahnik and Dior immediately took her up on the idea, with Dior making her the first black face of the brand in 2015.
A few months before that it was confirmed that Rihanna would become the creative director for Puma’s women’s line. She released her first trainer with Puma in 2015 – sold out within three hours of its pre-sale launch. Over the next two years, Rihanna would release multiple shoe styles in different colour palettes, all met positively by both critics and buyers. Her first clothing line in collaboration with Puma presented at New York Fashion Week in 2016 was also met with rave reviews from fashion critics. She debuted her second collection at Paris Fashion Week that same year, and was again met with critical acclaim.
Vogue praised the collection, stating: “Sometimes when a famous person tries his or her hand at another discipline, the results can be uneven. And yet there are those special cases when making the switch leads to a good surprise. Judging by the collection she showed today, we can add Rihanna to that list.”
While the Rihanna brand is strong and may have contributed to the commercial success of the collaboration, perhaps one of the main reasons why Rihanna’s work with Puma – under the label Fenty Puma by Rihanna – has been successful, is because she understands the times when you need the benefits of active wear without sacrificing style. And that is perhaps also the best way to describe Rihanna’s collections for Puma: a bold fusing of luxury fashion with sport.
Her latest collection for the brand was launched among dunes of illustrious pink sand and motocross riders in the air during New York Fashion Week, and makes its debut in global retail outlets this month. The singer and designer describes the collection as a mix between the worlds of motocross and surfing, admitting that it was a challenge to bring these worlds together but that, for her, it ended up being the perfect combination.
True to the DNA of the label, the collection is dominated by gender-fluid silhouettes and oversized shapes paired with sexy bodycon styles. Some of the favourites from her previous collections were reimagined in new season-appropriate fabrics and colours. The classic tracksuit is, for example, updated with a surf-inspired twist with neon bungee cords and lightweight rubber-coated leather, while the iconic lacing leggings are refashioned with bungee cords and cut-outs in pop colours.
For the first time, the collection introduces swimwear with curve-hugging mono-kinis and body-confident bikinis, which pair beautifully with Summer apparel must-haves like oversized graphic sweatshirts, and basketball and booty shorts. The neon hits, wet-look gel prints, wetsuit pullers, and rubber patch details throughout the collection are a nod to throwback surfing and extreme watersport culture, and plays into the season’s big trend of including leather and plastic in everything.
Paying homage to Puma’s history in motorsport, Rihanna transformed classic performance-racing gear into runway-ready looks in tech materials such as lightweight leathers, nylon, and air tech mesh. Technical race suits and driving pants rendered with checkered-flag graphics, sporty decals, and motorsport gear go from forever faster to forever fashion.
The creeper gets a makeover with neoprene materials, gravity-defying translucent stacked soles, and bungee cord laces. Sexy thongheeled sandals, ankle-strap heels, and bungee cord lace-up shoes feature a split Puma cat on the heel, while the new Fenty slides are designed as an espadrille slip-on and a combo leather-neoprene neon pool slide. Deep Forest Green, Triple Black, and Golden Beige boots are highlighted with sock-like and bungee cord features and rich, supple suede.
On the accessories side of the collection, exaggerated carry-alls, a metallic puffy barrel bag, and surfer ankle-straps and chokers are splashed with PUMA x Fenty branding, with visors and classic baseball caps with branded nylon webbing and rubbercoated clips complementing dye-cut-logo headwear. The unique scuba duffle, an array of backpacks, and a giant bum bag round off the season’s accessories.
Yes, it was probably easy to dismiss any notion of style and success when Puma first decided to collaborate with Rihanna. After all, it’s easy to look at today’s stars, some barely out of their teens, and dismiss them as spoilt celebrities who splash their name onto everything for the sake of more money. But in the case of Fenty Puma by Rihanna, the naysayers were ultimately proved wrong. Sure, her name has probably helped the cause quite significantly, but it’s always a surprise when a fad is met by commercial and critical success.