After making her first splash at Paris Fashion Week last season, Rihanna returned last month with a fall showing for her sporty-sexy Fenty Puma line, which truly created a scene. Held in the National Library of France with models catwalking down long communal study tables, the show offered up Rihanna’s third collection with a collegiate-couture vibe as stylish celebs like Cara Delevingne and Future looked on.
Floor-length plaid puffer coats, color contrasting jerseys, classic tracksuits, varsity lettering and all things preppy get reshuffled and sexed up with these new offerings, made more for catching looks in the streets than breaking a sweat in the gym or on the field. A blown-out cable-knit sweater evolved into a flirty off-the-shoulder dress. The standard stiletto boots from Fenty collections of the past received a more functional twist for fall with the creation of the thigh-high Wellington, perhaps the hottest rain boot we’ve ever seen. Such provocative footwear was seamlessly paired with short skirts or shorts and oversized outerwear on top—it was a one-time entry in the coolest school in the universe, a mischievous play on the stereotypical labels of youth.
Rihanna said she’s never been as in love with a collection as she is with this one, and she’s not alone. Just as she’s done with her recent music—2016 album Anti, to be specific—she’s proving herself to be uncompromising, and unlike any other in the fashion realm as well.
