Rihanna has teamed up with Dior. She is their latest celebrity muse. She joins a list that includes Charlize Theron, Natalie Portman and Jennifer Lawrence.
The Rihanna Dior partnership is being called historical for the fact that Rihanna is Dior’s first black brand ambassador.
We’re less impressed with all the Rihanna Dior making history talk and more impressed with Rihanna’s amazing pictures. The girl has definitely got every bit of “It”.
She always looks spectacular in her photo shoots. And she manages to give every shoot something unique. All due credit to the photographer, the make-up artists, hair stylists and everyone involved in creating the finished work; but you can’t take anything away from Rihanna. It’s she who makes the pictures what they are.
Rihanna’s first campaign for Dior was shot by Steven Klein. The famed photographer is, according to Wikipedia, “well known for his W Magazine editorials with Madonna, Tom Ford, Brad Pitt and numerous others”. The Rihanna Dior Secret Garden campaign was shot in Versailles in France.
Rihanna on what it’s like to be the first black Dior brand ambassador (speaking to MTV)
“It feels fantastic. It is such a big deal for me, for my culture, for a lot of young girls of any colour. I think, to be acknowledged by Dior is just… it means a lot as a woman to feel beautiful, and elegant, and timeless.”
Shows that even larger than life ladies like Rihanna are still just women who want to be the cover girl. Of course Rihanna has been the cover girl numerous times. She has appeared on the cover of just about every beauty magazine. But to be recognized and celebrated by a prestigious brand like Dior is different. As far as what brands like Dior represent in terms of how much power they have to control the whole conversation about beauty, getting chosen to represent their brand is like getting confirmation from the highest power that you belong at the very top.
So we’ll hold nothing against Rihanna for saying that being the first black Dior brand ambassador is a big deal for her. Personally we think the world is better served by there not being a need to celebrate some women above others for their looks, whatever the celebrated woman’s race. We don’t care about the first black woman angle. We’ll care when the message about beauty as it relates to a woman’s worth changes.
The Rihanna Dior Secret Garden campaign has not been officially released yet. The official release date is May 18th. But Dior has been giving sneak peaks in advance of the release date.
From the clips we’ve seen Rihanna looks like she had a lot of fun. We wouldn’t mind having her life for a minute.