Last night at New York Fashion Week, a pregnant Slick Woods, plus-size activist Paloma Elsesser, the doll-like Duckie Thot as well as Gigi and Bella Hadidclad in lingerie, thigh-high stockings and huge hoop earrings ushered in a new era of sexy.
For Rihanna’s first Savage x Fenty runway show, it’s the least that can be expected. It’s as if the word ‘disrupter’ was created for Rihanna. While still too new for the Oxford English Dictionary to add it to its storied lexicon, this word summaries just how boundary-shattering Rihanna is.
With Fenty Beauty, for instance, she successfully cracked the cosmetic world with an inclusive collection that changed the parameters for the whole industry. No longer could brands get away with launching a line of foundations with a pitiful selection of shades without being compared to the 40 options Fenty Beauty launched with. Unfazed, she shook things up, broke barriers and successfully outstripped the success of rival Kylie Jenner’s Kylie Cosmetics by banking $12mill (£9.1mill) in 2017, according to Forbes. And, she did the same with her Savage line.
First, the Grammy winner, Hollywood actress, cosmetic entrepreneur, sportswear designer and holder of several Sexiest Woman Alive and In The World awards announced the range would go from size 32A to 44DD and XS to XXXL. Then we learnt it would be affordable and that it would be distributed online. Rihanna’s business plans aren’t just disruptive but democratic - something that was ignorable on the runway yesterday.
Mere days after Victoria’s Secret confirmed not a single model of the 50 confirmed to walk in their forthcoming fashion show was plus-size, let alone as heavily pregnant as Woods. In this most #metoo world where body positivity and inclusivity should not just be mandatory but second nature, Fenty x Savage stood out.
Models of all sizes, ages and ethnicities wore skimpy bustiers, boxers, crop tops, nipple pasties, harnesses, leopard slips and sheer bodysuits.