Rihanna and LVMH are reportedly bringing the Paris-based luxury maison known as Fenty to a close.
Per reports from both Women’s Wear Daily and Business of Fashion on Wednesday, LVMH and Rihanna have come to an agreement in which the Fenty maison will be closed. In a statement to WWD, an LVMH rep said the luxury conglomerate and the proven multi-hyphenate “have jointly made the decision to put on hold the RTW activity, based in Europe, pending better conditions.”
While that statement implies a temporary nature to the decision, Wednesday’s reports point to this development as a definitive halt for the luxury Fenty house, though it’s also mentioned that both LVMH and Rihanna “haven’t ruled out taking a second run” at a luxury maison in the future.
Complex has reached out to a rep for LVMH and will update this post accordingly.
LVMH and Rihanna first unveiled the luxury maison in 2019. At the time, Rihanna called designing the inaugural line “an incredibly special moment” for the team.
“Mr. Arnault has given me a unique opportunity to develop a fashion house in the luxury sector, with no artistic limits,” she said in May of that year. “I couldn’t imagine a better partner both creatively and business-wise, and I’m ready for the world to see what we have built together.”
The historic Fenty house was the first one LVMH had launched from scratch since way back in 1987 with Christian Lacroix.
LVMH, per this report, will focus further on Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty and Fenty Skin elements, as well as get involved with Savage X Fenty. Meanwhile, L Catterton—in which LVMH, notably, has a stake—is now the leading investor in the latter as part of a push for retail expansion.
A Fast Company exclusive report, meanwhile, adds that Savage X Fenty has bagged $115 million in Series B funding from L Catterton, which effectively brings the brand’s valuation to more than $1 billion. The larger goal, the FC report notes, is to build a full-blown “lingerie empire.”
