Rihanna opens New York pop-up shop for her Fenty label

New York

ROLLING out her concept of fashion that is not a slave to the seasons or the shackles of Fashion Week, Rihanna opened the second pop-up shop of her Fenty brand in New York on Tuesday, a month after the launch of the new fashion house in Paris.

Fenty, which the Barbados-born diva launched with French luxury powerhouse LVMH, has set up shop in fashionable Soho store The Webster and officially is open to the public from Wednesday until June 30.

It provided an occasion for the young fashion house to unveil a new mini-collection, called "6-19" after its launch date, following on from the inaugural "5-19" collection in Paris last month.

Some pieces from the first collection are back, alongside some new items, including a series of dresses and skirts in bold colours like orange or yellow but also some very dense prints.

The cuts are figure-hugging with plunging necklines and the label has chosen soft materials such as satin or mesh.

Most of the pieces will be available online from Wednesday, with the exception of a set of T-shirts, at US$230 each, which are only available in the store before being marketed online in July.

The prices of the collection are similar to the Paris offerings, which ranged from US$250 for a T-shirt to more than US$1,000 for a denim jacket or pantsuit.

Rihanna, the world's richest female musician, is the first black woman to head up a fashion house for Paris-based LVMH, which owns Dior, Louis Vuitton, Fendi and Givenchy among others.

Fenty, named for the 31-year-old singer, born Robyn Rihanna Fenty, is LVMH's first new luxury brand from scratch since the launch of Christian Lacroix in 1987. AFP