She took the mantra short hair, don’t care to heart
In 2007, RiRi made an image-altering decision: she chopped off her hair. Emerging with a sleek lob in tow, the Barbadian singer caught the attention of, well, everyone. Long gone was the young girl singing “Pon De Replay” in low-slung jeans with honey-blonde highlighted locks. Her new look was attention-grabbing and statement-making. It was the real Rih. The now-famous haircut was “a really big change for Rihanna,” said Ursula Stephen, the woman behind the cut. “I came from the fashion world, where it was not all about long, beautiful hair. It was about a great look – creating an illusion.” But Rihanna had a fight on her hands, as male record label bosses weren’t convinced a female artist could be successful with short hair – some even told her to put in hair extensions. Of course, she went on to prove them wrong. “And when Rihanna did it, it was like, wow – you can look great without having hair down to your [rear end], and you really get to see another side of beauty.”
Read more: Rihanna Talks New Music, Fenty Skincare, & Her Plans To Have “3 Or 4 Kids”
She was unapologetic about female sexuality
Rihanna was never going to spend her career frolicking on crystal sands or dancing on podiums for the male gaze, right? Enter “S&M”. In 2011, she released the video for her “raunchy” track to much controversy, proving that the more successful you are, the more riled up the haters get. Some countries banned it, while MTV only played it after 10pm, and many took offence at the lyric: “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but chains and whips excite me.” But Rihanna was here to tell the world that women really like sex (bondage gear included). God bless RiRi and her love of PVC – and breaking the rules.
Read more: Rihanna Wears The First Durag On The Cover Of British Vogue
She won’t stay silent about women’s rights
Women’s rights are human rights – which is why Rihanna has been just as vocal about making charitable change as she has about climbing the charts. In 2018, she couldn’t hide her sense of pride when Barbados elected its first female prime minister, Mia Mottley. Taking to Instagram, she wrote: “Well deserved and about time! Breaking barriers and making history in so many ways!” Not only does RiRi care about education for girls but she’s also been championing healthcare and education in the Caribbean since her career began. In 2017, her efforts were recognised by Harvard University when they awarded her the prestigious Peter J Gomes Humanitarian Award. She may not have graduated from high school, but she “made it to Harvard”.
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Read more: Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation Gives $5 Million to COVID-19 Efforts
Fashion has always been her closest ally
Remember when RiRi wore that Swarovski crystal-encrusted Adam Selman gown to scoop a CFDA Fashion Icon Award in 2014? “Fashion has been an outlet for me to express myself, to speak up, to say who I am and to be very loud about it at times, and I just like to have fun with it,” she said at the time. Fast-forward six years and she’s writing the sartorial rulebook. In what she termed a “big day for the culture”, Rihanna celebrated the launch of her own line, Fenty, with LVMH in 2019, the first line created by the group since Christian Lacroix in 1987. In the process, she made history, becoming both the first woman to create an original line with LVMH and the first woman of colour at the helm of an LVMH maison. Several collections later and she’s proving that real success comes from doing things your own way.
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She became a beauty queen and rewrote the “rules” at the same time
Shortly before her 30th birthday, Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty “so that people everywhere would be included” in the world of make-up. Refusing to just put her name to the brand, she’s been an integral part of its development – and its phenomenal success. Having created foundations for hard-to-match skin tones and kept the focus on celebrating our differences, RiRi’s been rewriting the rules ever since. According to reports, the brand raked in $100 million (£80 million) in the first 40 days post launch. RiRi’s empire made a reported €500 million in its first year, and it currently worth some $3 billion. Wow.
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