Vogue has blessed us with another Rihanna cover for this glorious month of April. Obviously she looks stunning, because I’m not convinced she knows how to look any other way, and in a nice surprise, her interview is equally entertaining.
The story, “It’s Rihanna’s World” opens with an exquisite detail that is the epitome of “two of my favorite worlds colliding.”
It’s Super Bowl Sunday, and I am in the large gothic home of Real Housewife Carlton Gebbia in Beverly Hills, the setting for Rihanna’s Vogue shoot.
Easily worth the price of admission.
Much of the discussion about Rihanna over the last few months has centered around her long, unusual break from music. After releasing albums like clockwork for her entire career, Rihanna took more than three years between 2012's Unapologetic and her newest release, Anti.
While I, like many others, assumed Rihanna was simply smoking blunts and enjoying her phenomenal life during much of that time, it turns out she was hustling behind the scenes.
After fulfilling her contract with Def Jam, she created her own imprint, Westbury Road Entertainment, on Universal’s Roc Nation label. In a bold move, she then acquired the masters of all her previous albums and made a reported $25 million promotional deal with Samsung.
Last fall, she announced a new venture, Fr8me, an agency representing stylists and hair and makeup artists.
In the midst of all this, she somehow found time to take a role in Valérian and the City of a Thousand Planets, a film based on a French comic series. Directed by Luc Besson, it costars Dane DeHaan and Delevingne and is due out in 2017.
Which is to say nothing of her collaborations with Puma, Manolo Blahnik and a sunglasses collection for Christian Dior—after becoming the first black face of the company last year.
The interview also includes what might be of my favorite collection of words to ever exist in the history of language. Discussing the sheer, Swarovski-coated gown she wore in 2014 to accept the Fashion Icon Award from the CFDA, Rihanna reflected on life, loss and regrets as only Rihanna can.
“I just liked it better without the lines underneath. Could you imagine the CFDA dress with a bra? I would slice my throat. I already wanted to, for wearing a thong that wasn’t bedazzled. That’s the only regret I have in my life.” Wearing a thong that wasn’t bedazzled is your greatest regret in life? “To the CFDA Awards. Yes.”
What a life.
Images via Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott/Vogue.