Decoding Rihanna’s Iconic Fashion

Rihanna’s status as a fashion icon encapsulates the power and reach of her cultural influence. While she has always possessed a distinctive style of her own, trends have also served as a powerful tool for her, propelling her to become one of the most sensational style icons and groundbreaking fashion and beauty entrepreneurs in the world. Rihanna possesses a unique fashion sense that commands attention wherever she goes, whether it’s the Met Gala, fashion magazine covers, or the streets. Her impressive business acumen enabled her personal brands to secure a place on the global wealth rankings almost immediately after their launch

So, what are the characteristics of Rihanna’s style that make her so iconic?

• Fearlessness:

Rihanna has always been known for her fearlessness, and that extends to her fashion sensibility. Few celebrities move as effortlessly from avant-garde Comme des Garçons ensembles on the Met Gala red carpet to streetwear like Rihanna does.

 When it comes to fashion, Rihanna has consistently been ahead of the curve, fearlessly embracing trends. Sensation is central to her style influence. From nude dresses to colored fur, from boldly bringing lingerie as outerwear to her unconventional omelette-inspired look for the Met Gala, Rihanna’s appearances are rarely anything short of a spectacle. While lingerie on the red carpet and at haute couture fashion shows isn’t a novel concept, no one has executed it as boldly as Riri.

 As I scrolled through Rihanna’s most iconic looks, I couldn’t help but think of the “absolute unit” fashion meme, which humorously celebrates oversized items. I wondered if Rihanna’s love for exaggerated oversize might have inspired such trends. Rihanna’s outfits often impress with their sheer volume, from the puffy pink Giambattista Valli dress she wore to the 2015 Grammy Awards to her Comme des Garçons Met Gala look. She embraced the oversized look—a style now ubiquitous on the runway—first and with unmatched flair. The term ‘icon’ is often overused, but it is fitting when describing those who represent something larger than themselves. What makes Rihanna iconic is her fearlessness in taking up space, in every realm.

• Versatility

Versatility in both style and influence stands as Rihanna’s most potent signature. In the 2000s, she epitomized the era with low-rise trousers, crop tops, and dazzling diamantés. By the 2010s, she was making headlines in a sunshine-yellow Guo Pei gown at the Met Gala, with her Comme des Garçons dress and 2018 John Galliano headpiece similarly capturing the internet’s attention. In the 2020s, she redefined maternity fashion while launching record-breaking beauty and fashion ventures

Rihanna’s ability to seamlessly blend high-end and high street fashion garners widespread acclaim, inspiring not only the masses but also major fashion designers. As a celebrity, Rihanna must showcase her style across radically different settings: the stage, the street, the red carpet, fashion weeks, and social media. Her consistent brilliance across all five platforms is truly remarkable. In 2014, she was honored with the CFDA Fashion Icon award, accepting it in a now-infamous shimmering, see-through Adam Selman gown.

When accepting another accolade from the Parsons School of Design Benefit for her philanthropic work and fashion influence, Rihanna donned something entirely different: an oversized men’s suit by young designer and Parsons alum Matthew Adams Dolan. It speaks volumes about her mastery over her image that both looks felt distinctly ‘Rihanna.’

Yet, regardless of her attire, Rihanna always delivers one irreplaceable element: confidence and a willingness to take risks. There’s nothing ordinary or conventional about her iconic looks.

Today, it’s hard to imagine a Met Gala without Rihanna, or any awards show worth watching. The street is her runway, and the runway, her street

• Irony

When we think of Rihanna and her fashion, our minds don’t necessarily jump to the red carpet or the runway first. Instead, they gravitate towards where we engage with her style on a more personal level: Instagram. This is partly because Instagram is where most of us are influenced by celebrities, but it’s also because Rihanna excels at using the platform to showcase high fashion or introduce us to new, lesser-known designers in a way that feels accessible and relatable to everyone.

For instance, after wearing a yellow Guo Pei couture dress with a 16-foot train to the Met Gala in 2015, she shared a series of memes created by fans, from “doges” in yellow capes to jokes about resembling an omelette.

On the day before her 30th birthday, Rihanna posted an Instagram story of herself wearing a custom T-shirt that read “I hate Rihanna” in bold letters, with the smaller font underneath saying “Don’t trust anyone under 30.” This moment perfectly encapsulated what makes her a style icon: it was self-aware, humorous, and embraced the language of the internet, all while using fashion as a medium of communication. The T-shirt, available for purchase, ironically embodies exactly why we adore Rihanna.

Instagram also provides Rihanna a platform to use her style as a means of expressing her values, an integral aspect of being an icon. For instance, on International Women’s Day, she posted a photo of herself wearing a pink hoodie emblazoned with the message “P***y grabs back,” paired with a pink tutu top, jeans, a hat featuring a middle finger, and a fur boa. Such outfits not only showcase her fashion sense but also draw attention to her political stance, seamlessly integrating fashion and activism.

• Revolution in maternity fashion

Rihanna sparked a revolution in maternity fashion when she proudly showcased her baby bump in a sheer black dress and black lingerie, complemented by a patent leather jacket and stiletto boots, while attending the Dior fashion show in Paris in March 2022.

If there were an award for Coolest Mom, Rihanna would undoubtedly claim the title. Despite her busy parenting schedule, the new mom has not compromised an ounce of her personal style; if anything, her superstar wardrobe has become even more impressive. Throughout this year, the singer and business mogul consistently made bold fashion statements, particularly during her second pregnancy, once again redefining the concept of maternity style.

What set Rihanna’s approach to mom style apart was her refusal to adhere to the notion that pregnancy dressing must be conservative or solely about comfort. Instead, she confidently embraced skin-tight miniskirts, sky-high stilettos, and crop tops that proudly displayed her baby bump—a styling move she flawlessly executed during her first pregnancy as well. One standout moment was her performance at the 2023 Super Bowl, where she dazzled in a custom Loewe red jumpsuit with a molded bustier, her Alaïa puffer coat unzipped to reveal her bump. Similarly, at the 2023 Oscars, she captivated audiences in a custom Margiela bandeau bra adorned with strands of crystals, shining bright like a diamond, as she often does.

Following her transition into motherhood, one of Rihanna’s notable appearances featured her in a khaki green gown from Rick Owens’ autumn/winter 2022 collection, accessorized with opera gloves, tousled hair, and pointed sandals, marking her triumphant return to the forefront of fashion’s spotlight

• Revolutionary Beauty and Fashion Businesses

Rihanna made her business debut in 2017, creating her Fenty Beauty makeup line with inclusivity and diversity at the forefront of the brand’s mission. Iconic pop star launched the brand with an unprecedented 40-shade foundation range — much larger than the average beauty brand offer starting out — and has expanded the range to now include 50 options, setting the new standard that brands have soon after followed.

Her focus on inclusivity paid off, with the brand earning sales north of $100 million in its first few weeks on the market.

The singer’s foundation range was come to known as the “Fenty Effect” in beauty, setting the new standard that diversity and inclusion in terms of shade ranges are the new norm. As customers increasingly expect this from the beauty brands they purchase from, a number of emerging and heritage brands have followed suit with their own extensive foundation shade ranges.

Tribe Dynamics’ 2019 year-in-review report showed that Fenty Beauty ranked at the eighth spot in its top 10 cosmetics brands list, recording $452.3 million in earned media value, a 17 percent year-over-year increase.

Rihanna then took that ethos and applied it to the intimates industry, hosting a lingerie fashion show for the second collection of her Savage x Fenty line that challenged beleaguered lingerie giant, Victoria’s Secret.

Rihanna proved that a lingerie fashion show can be empowering, entertaining and provocative in the post-#MeToo era with her hybrid fashion show concert for the second collection of her Savage x Fenty line in September 2019, giving the embattled Victoria’s Secret a run for its money.

The singer put on a high-impact show at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center during New York Fashion Week — which was later streamed on Amazon Prime Video ­— enlisting the likes of Halsey, Normani, Migos, A$AP Ferg, DJ Khaled and more to perform as a diverse set of models debuted the collection.

Without a doubt, the lingerie show resonated with the public. According to Tribe Dynamics’ September 2019 apparel report, Savage x Fenty ranked eighth in the top 10 list, recording $14.8 million in earned media value, a 394 percent month-over-month increase.

Rihanna’s lingerie fashion show was a hot topic in September 2019, spiking in social media content on Sept. 11 (the day of the show) and on Sept. 20 (the day the show hit Amazon Prime). According to Launchmetrics — a brand performance cloud that equates a brand’s marketing activities to a monetary value — the brand recorded $536.4 million in media impact value on Sept. 11 and $547 million in media impact value on Sept. 21.

Rihanna’s Fenty fashion label made history in May 2019 in partnership with LVMH, making her the first black woman to head a brand owned by the luxury conglomerate. The launch of her luxury fashion brand also marked the first time that LVMH has launched a fashion brand from scratch since the establishment of couture house Christian Lacroix in 1987. This is also the first time LVMH has invested so heavily in a celebrity.

LVMH’s investment has already proven to pay off. In December, Rihanna was awarded with the Urban Luxe Award at the British Fashion Awards.