Rihanna and LVMH announce decision to pause Fenty fashion line after just two years

Launch saw Rihanna become the first woman of colour at the top of an LVMH maison

Rihanna and LVMH are pausing Fenty fashion house (Getty Images for Bergdorf Goodma)

Rihanna and LVMH are suspending the singer’s fashion line Fenty after just two years. 

The French luxury conglomerate, which owns a number of brands including Louis Vuitton, Dior and Givenchy, confirmed the decision on Wednesday in a statement to WWD.

“Rihanna and LVMH have jointly made the decision to put on hold the RTW [ready-to-wear] activity, based in Europe, pending better conditions,” the group said.

The news comes after the Fenty brand halted posting on its Instagram on 1 January, with the last post dedicated to a pair of sunglasses.

LVMH and Rihanna first launched the Fenty fashion line, which is headquartered in Paris, in May 2019. It marked only the second time that the luxury group had launched a fashion brand from scratch, after launching Christian Lacroix in 1987.

At the time, LVMH said that the fashion brand would be “centred on Rihanna, developed by her, and takes shape with her vision in terms of ready-to-wear, shoes and accessories, including commerciality and communication of the brand”.

Since its launch, which saw Rihanna become the first woman of colour at the top of an LVMH maison, the Fenty brand has offered goods ranging from $300 hoodies to $900 sandals.

However, Jean-Jacques Guiony, LVMH’s chief financial officer, alluded to possible financial concerns with Fenty last October when discussing the group’s third quarter 2020 results, according to The New York Times.

“On Fenty fashion, we are obviously still in a launching phase and we have to figure out exactly what is the right offer. It’s not something that is easy. We were starting entirely from scratch,” he said, according to the outlet. “Obviously, we have the great help from Rihanna on this, but I would say it’s still a work in progress when it comes to really defining what the offer will be.

“We have successes, we have things that have worked less well, so we have to sort in between the two and really decide what should be the core strengths of the offer in the years to come.”

While Rihanna’s luxury line is currently on hiatus, LVMH said it is dedicated to growing the other Fenty brands – Fenty Beauty, Fenty Skin and her lingerie line Savage x Fenty, which recently secured $115m through a Series B fundraising round led by private equity group L Catterton, in which LVMH has a stake, according to WWD.

“Following the completion of a fundraising round where L Catterton has taken a stake into Savage X Fenty, LVMH and Rihanna reaffirm their ambition to concentrate on the growth and the long-term development of Fenty ecosystem focusing on cosmetics, skincare and lingerie,” LVMH and Rihanna said in the statement to WWD.

On social media, some said they were not shocked by the news, with one person tweeting: “I’ve never seen anyone wear Fenty in real life.”

Others expressed their approval over the decision to focus on the expansion of Fenty Beauty and Savage x Fenty.

“I can’t wait to see how Savage x Fenty can expand over the next few years. so much potential for growth!” someone else tweeted.

The Independent has contacted Fenty and LVMH for comment.