She already has a collab with River Island under her belt, but Rihanna, fashion goddess, is officially adding to her design resume. WWD reports that Puma has just signed the singer as their creative director, effective immediately—in fact, she already had her first creative session at the sportswear brand’s headquarters in Germany yesterday.
According to the powers that be at Puma, this appointment is far from symbolic, and Rihanna is expected to be very hands-on every step of the way. “[Rihanna] will work with Puma to design and customize classic Puma styles as well as create new styles to add to the Puma product portfolio,” the company told WWD. It’s not short-term, either—she apparently agreed to a “multi-year partnership.” (We’ve said it before and we’ll say it again: RiRi, how are there enough hours in the day?)
Just putting aside the obvious for a second (that Rihanna knows what she’s talking about when it comes to style, okay?), we have to offer our kudos to Puma, because “get Rihanna” is pretty much the most brilliant business strategy ever. The brand was apparently looking to revamp their image and boost sales, and, well—this oughta do it. So don’t put away your #normcore sneaks just yet and write off the ever-growing sportswear-as-fashion trend—Rihanna is willing to wager her fashion career on it, and that’s endorsement enough for us.
