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It is well known that fashion houses turn a healthier profit from selling things like perfume, make-up, and skincare than clothing. I see Rihanna’s approach to marketing through the same lens. The musician was yesterday afternoon photographed exiting a blacked-out SUV, dressed in a vintage Pucell Scott jersey and Amiri camo pants with a pendulous crystal necklace draped around her neck, while her beauty firm’s new Gloss Bomb Stix was visibly clasped between her fingers.
The caption could have read: “You can purchase this Fenty lip treatment—and perhaps gain proximity to my lifestyle—but the Briony Raymond diamonds are all mine.” Rihanna’s collection of haute joaillerie is a method to maintain distance from just about everyone else, a not-so-subtle reminder that she is worth a billion dollars and can therefore slipstream between the high and low. When a reporter asked Rihanna how she was feeling at the 2023 Met Gala, she rubbed her fingers and replied: “Expensive.” Fans love this sort of thing. She is a vessel for their own luxurious fantasies.
See also: the four Suzanne Code necklaces—including three 18-carat cross pendants—she wore to Paris Fashion Week with an AWGE skirt and a shearling bomber from The Attico; the elaborate Jean Paul Gaultier haute couture pearl choker she once wore with wide-legged denim and Puma sneakers for a casual dinner in Los Angeles; and the Christian Lacroix necklace that framed her bump when she announced her first pregnancy in 2022 in a Chanel puffer jacket and Vetements jeans. Rihanna knows that it is impossible for most people to recreate her style, and she understands how that might also be a good thing, because we all need something to aspire towards. Even if that’s a lip balm.