Rihanna says 'it's a big deal' to be the first black star on a Dior campaign

The popstar has been confirmed for the Secret Garden's fourth instalment

Rihanna attends the Christian Dior Cruise 2015 show at Brooklyn Navy Yard (Getty Images)

Rihanna has been confirmed as the newest face of Dior’s Secret Garden campaign and the first black star to be featured by the French brand - and she explained "this is a big deal" for her culture.

The 27-year-old will star in the Secret Garden’s fourth instalment just days after she was spotted shooting in a silver dress for the brand at the Palace of Versailles in Paris earlier this week.

“The house of Dior is pleased to announce that the fourth episode of Secret Garden was filmed this week by Steven Klein in Versailles, guest starring Rihanna,” said Dior in a statement.

In the past, each instalment of the capsule campaign has been set at a royal chateau and unlike Dior’s main campaigns, it has starred models rather than celebrities (think Jennifer Lawrence, Natalie Portman and Marion Cotillard) –until now. The pop star will star in a short film and print ad set to debut this spring.

Jennifer Lawrence for Miss Dior (Dior)

Rihanna has already been the face of Gucci, Emporio Armani and Balmain, but she now has another high-end name to add to her CV.

This will be her first campaign for Dior and the casting choice is somewhat surprising because although she has sit on the front row of various Dior shows since Raf Simons took over, she doesn’t typically wear the brand on the red carpet – like Portman or Lawrence. Also, the pop star is thought to be the first black celebrity to appear on a Dior campaign in recent years, and certainly the first one under Simons, the 70-year-old label’s current creative director.

Rihanna attends the Christian Dior Cruise 2015 show in Brooklyn (Getty Images)

In an interview with MTV, she described the new job as "fantastic" and "meaningful".

"It feels fantastic," she said. "It is such a big deal for me, for my culture, for a lot of young girls of any color."

Simons recently came under fire for not casting black models in his shows, and it was not until his autumn 2013 collection when he casted six black models in the show. Recruiting Rihanna is a good step towards embracing diversity of models in the fashion industry.