Fashion

What did you make of the Rihanna for River Island collection at LFW 2013?

Love her or hate her, Rihanna is everywhere at the moment and we really can’t get away. She’s dominated the music industry, took a whack at being an actress and if that wasn’t enough, she’s now tried her luck in the fashion industry.

Appearing in a very fresh and neoteric Oxford Street location as part of London Fashion Week, Rihanna for River Island showcased her designing talents on a five sector catwalk. She wanted to encapsulate an ‘easy and fierce’ collection which was suitable for all body types. And she certainly did not hold back on the ‘grunge’ and ‘gangster’ style which, prior to the show she said wanted to include.

The second most popular trend on Twitter was ‘rihannaforriverisland’. Maybe it would have been the most popular if she wasn’t nearly an hour and a half late to start the show!

The collection was wearable to say the least. With a sweatpant jumpsuit and a black baggy trench coat, it appeared that grunge was the forte of this collection. However, the femininity and love Rihanna holds for the female form was blatant. With every model wearing heels that were nearly as long as their oh so fabulous legs helping to draw attention to the eccentric and alternative clothing.

Taking the bodycon maxi skirt which dominated the 70s, Rihanna created the perfect contemporary touch. The skirts consisted of hues of greys and blacks with HIP HIGH SLITS! (That could be extremely awkward if the wind happens to blow the wrong way…) This almost evergreen piece was teamed with thigh high booted shoelaced heels to reinforce the domineering ‘grunge’ appeal of her collection.

In contrast sheer dresses of corals and yellows hung impeccably on her model’s frames. And a few playsuits made an appearance. Probably the most favourable being the tie dye jumpsuit.

The beetle juice inspired, black and white striped print also made a minor appearance, however the role of flesh in the collection was humongous… in fact it was even larger than that. Every piece had legs out, and not just a calf or a knee, but the WHOLE leg. However, this was reserved compared to the black fishnet body stocking showcased in this collection! The model who was embraced with this controversial ‘design’ bore her female figure, nipples and all.

And as for the Baywatch inspired, piercing red leotard/swimming costume that really is open to debate… It received some inspiring positive tweets… however the negative seemed to override its appealing aspects.

Although the collection was fun and very much to Rihanna’s taste it was pretty small. Also criticised for being too ‘samey’ as quite a lot of the garments were similar to the ones which had entered her catwalk about a minute before.

Is Rihanna just a name to help the company sell more? If it is, then using one of the largest celebrities is a very well thought out marketing strategy. But it is doubtful in many minds that she had much impact on creating these designs… if at all. Unsurprisingly, the designs in this collection were almost identical to what is already being sold in River Island, very uninspiring (Yawn). Maybe ‘RhiRhi’ should stick to making music.

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