Erykah Badu was announced as the face of French fashion house Givenchy, and now Princess Riri has snagged a campaign with Balmain. Dressed in a chain-embellished pink-and-white robe, Rihanna is fronting the new Spring/Summer 2014 campaign that hits magazines in January. According to Balmain’s creative director Olivier Rousteing:
“In front of the camera, she makes you feel like she is the only girl in the world. When the woman that inspires you wears your creations, your vision feels complete.”
Rihanna’s love affair with the fashion industry is apparent. The pop star is the executive producer of the fashion reality show “Styled to Rock,” she designs a signature collection of threads for River Island, her Instagram feed is a virtual runway showing off her impressive collection of designer duds and jealousy-inducing adventures among fashion royalty.
Designer Rousteing says working with Rihanna was “a dream come true” and that the Barbadian beauty is uncompromising, fresh, modern and the “icon” of his generation:
“Rihanna embodies my vision of Balmain in this new campaign,” Rousteing said. “In front of the camera, she makes you feel like she is the only girl in the world.”
The campaign was shot in New York City last month by Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. RiRi, who was styled by her personal stylist Mel Ottenberg for the project, looks like she’s in a steam room where she’s providing all the heat needed in two ensembles by the famed French fashion house. One ad shows the “Diamonds” singer dressed in a pink-and-white Kimono style coat accessorized with white lace gold-toed and heeled booties, while the other is an edgy off-the-shoulders denim-and-gold chain getup. 
This marks the second music star to land a major spring 2014 fashion campaign, with Badu’s partnership with Givenchy being the first.
This isn’t the only reason Rihanna has made headlines this week. Over the weekend, she proved why her fan base is one of the strongest among celebrities, when she lent an ear and some advice to a fan. In a private direct message on Twitter, the fan wrote:
“Hey Rih, I hope it’s not a bad time to message. Just been down lately and wondering if you had any words of encouragement. Trust issues with men.”
To his surprise, Rihanna responded immediately:
Anytime I have trust issues, I often assume that it has a lot to do with myself. Most of the time it’s difficult to differentiate. Intuition and insecurities! But no one ever wants to wait to figure it out. Whatever we do, we don’t want to feel stupid! So we tend to jump the gun with no evidence to back it up. That’s the biggest mistake anyone could ever make.
She continued:
My advice, which is exactly what I’ve done, is if sh-t isn’t making sense to me, I’m out. I mean cold turkey! I always need to step out of it to see it for what it is cuz I refuse to let a man play me. If he has no respect, he just doesn’t!
But you don’t have to allow it or be bound by it.
According to the fan, although it was a private message, he felt the need to share it because, “This advice was way too solid not to share it with people who could benefit from it.”
