First thing’s first, no one can wear a purple Big Bird jacket and look as good as Rihanna. The singer set herself a brief that read: “fun!” for the launch of her Fenty X Puma Creeper Phattys, but rather than veer into kids’ entertainer territory, she and her Dairy Milk-colored bomber looked playful with a pop punk edge.
Perhaps it’s the absence of authentic street style that made us zero in on her slightly off-the-wall outfit, but during an era when everything is curated or Photoshopped to the max, there’s still something exciting about the way Rih throws on an ’80s jacket (she’s also been wearing her Phattys with vintage Jean Paul Gaultier coats) and low-slung jeans (Agolde’s are a recent favorite) while looking resolutely like herself.
We’re under no illusion that the businesswoman’s stylist, Jahleel Weaver, cooked up this look with the same exacting approach as that red Loewe breastplate at the Super Bowl, but there’s always room within his outfits for Rihanna to have fun. A dab of lilac eyeshadow here, a candy-colored earring there…Yesterday’s offbeat accent came via rows of diamanté chains dripping down her denim in a manner that can perhaps best be described as luxe Linkin Park.
While the “Umbrella” singer’s accessory is more likely to be Jacquie Aiche than thrifted from hardcore stores that double up as piercing parlors, there’s a distinct air of [insert your favorite guilty pleasure guitar band here] about all those rows of silver links casually clipped on her belt loop. Perhaps she’s in her Blink era, but if Rihanna–a woman well versed in both distressed denim and body jewelry–is doing it, we could all be Sum 41-ing our way through 2024. Most likely, fashion’s resident bad gal saw a way of transforming a sneaker marketing event geared towards her younger audience and grabbed it with both hands. Rock on!
