Rihanna Closes Out New York Fashion Week With A Bang

“Tell the paparazzi get the lens right,” is a lyric Rihanna sang with N.E.R.D. on the song ‘Lemon,’ and closing out this year’s Fashion Week, she had us all fixing our camera lenses at her Savage x Fenty runway show. RiRi invited guests to venture out to the Brooklyn Navy Yards (a familiar territory for ESSENCE, as the neighborhood was host to our 2018 Street Style Block Festival), to experience her offerings for the Spring/Summer 2019 season. Upon entering Ri’s curated space, we were transported to a lush greenhouse setting replete with live plants, planthouses and recorded sounds of wildlife. “I felt like I was in a high-fashion science lab, waiting for Rihanna to appear,” said fashion writer Asia Milia. Because this was RiRi’s collection of her Savage x Fenty lingerie items, models were scantily clad in nude blush-tone panty sets, silk animal-print robes, boxer shorts and tank tops, camisoles and boy-shorts, lace bralettes, sheer bodysuits and du-rags. Only a handful of actual runway models made an appearance in the show- including a very pregnant Slick Woods, Joan Smalls, and the Hadid sisters (Bella and Gigi). Each model slinked down the experimental runway, ushered by a small group of the performance dancers. Throughout the show, the dancers performed hypnotic, slow and rhythmic movements on the grassy stage, nothing akin to what you’d expect at a standard runway show- but with Rihanna, you should always expect the unexpected. While wrapped up in Rihanna’s Garden of Eden, we realized that the models and the dancers were the fruit being offered to the audience, while Rihanna’s congratulatory walk at the end of the show was the cherry on top. For more behind-the-scenes recaps from NYFW, head back over to ESSENCE.com