LVMH puts Rihanna's Fenty brand on hold

LVMH is pausing Fenty, the fashion brand it launched less than two years ago in partnership with Rihanna.

The French luxury giant and the superstar have mutually agreed to put the label on hold, LVMH said in a statement Wednesday, adding that it will continue to support Fenty’s lines of cosmetics and skincare.

“Rihanna and LVMH have jointly made the decision to put on hold the ready-to-wear activity, based in Europe, pending better conditions,” the group said.

The tie-up between LVMH and Rihanna was first confirmed back in May 2019 following months of speculation that a new brand between the two was in the works. Fenty then made its official debut weeks later at a pop-up store in Paris, with a global e-commerce launch following suit five days later.

Fenty fashion put on pause

The news brought with it a whirlwind of excitement among industry professionals and investors, but the lustre headlines had promised ultimately failed to come to fruition. Though LVMH never shared Fenty’s trading figures, the group’s chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guiony told analysts the brand was still fine-tuning its operations as recently as in October 2020.

“On Fenty fashion, we are obviously still in a launching phase and we have to figure out exactly what is the right offer. It’s not something that is easy. We were starting entirely from scratch,” Guiony said in a statement. “Obviously, we have the great help from Rihanna on this, but I would say it’s still a work in progress when it comes to really define what the offer will be.”

The launch of Fenty came a year after Rihanna took her first foray into the fashion world with the launch of her lingerie label Savage x Fenty.

LVMH said Wednesday that investment fund L Catterton, which it backs, had taken a stake of Savage X Fenty to support its growth.

The group said: “LVMH and Rihanna reaffirm their ambition to concentrate on the growth and the long-term development of Fenty ecosystem focusing on cosmetics, skincare and lingerie.”

Photo credit: Fenty