Business ventures
Rihanna's first fragrance, Reb'l Fleur, was released in January 2011. Rolling Stone deemed it a commercial success, projecting that it would generate US$80 million in retail sales by the end of the year. Her second fragrance, Rebelle, followed in December 2011. Director Anthony Mandler shot the promotional campaigns for both fragrances. In November 2012, she introduced her third fragrance, Nude. Her fourth women's scent, Rogue, debuted in September 2013; a men's version entitled Rogue Man launched in 2014. In 2013, Rihanna partnered with MAC Cosmetics to launch her own summer and fall makeup collections under the name RiRi Hearts MAC. In March 2015, Rihanna was announced as a co-owner of the music streaming platform Tidal, alongside several other artists. The service specializes in lossless audio and high-definition music videos. Including Beyoncé and Jay-Z, 16 artist stakeholders co-own Tidal, most of whom own a 3% equity stake. In 2016, it was confirmed that Rihanna would release her music through her own label, Westbury Road Entertainment, founded in 2005 and named after her childhood home in Barbados.
In November 2015, Rihanna partnered with Benoit Demouy to launch Fr8me, a Los Angeles-based beauty and stylist agency supporting artists with commercial bookings, photo shoots, campaigns, and red-carpet appearances. She also established a photography agency, A Dog Ate My Homework, representing photographers Erik Asla and Deborah Anderson. Early in her career, Rihanna expressed a strong interest in fashion and a desire to pursue clothing design, calling the former her "defence mechanism". In November 2011, she launched her first fashion venture in collaboration with Armani. By February 2013, she debuted her first women's fashion collection at London Fashion Week for the British brand River Island, working closely with her personal stylist, Adam Selman. Together, they released three additional collections for the brand. Rihanna went on to collaborate with numerous fashion houses, including Dior, Stance, and Manolo Blahnik. In March 2015, she became the first Black woman to be named the new face of Dior.
In 2014, Rihanna was named creative director of Puma's women's line, overseeing both apparel and footwear collaborations. The following year, she launched her first sneaker with the brand, which sold out online within three hours of its pre-sale. Over the next two years, she released a variety of footwear in different styles and colourways, all receiving positive responses from critics and consumers alike. In 2016, Rihanna debuted her first clothing line with Puma at New York Fashion Week, which was commercially successful, earning the company over $1 billion.
In 2017, Rihanna launched her cosmetics line Fenty Beauty through LVMH's Kendo division, holding a 50% ownership stake. The $10 million partnership produced a wide range of beauty products, with the first collection released on September 8, 2017, in stores and online across more than 150 countries. It included an array of products including foundations, highlighters, bronzers, blush compacts, lip glosses, and blotting sheets, and was praised for offering shades that catered to all skin tones. Time named Fenty Beauty one of "The 25 Best Inventions of 2017", commending its inclusivity. The brand sparked what became known as the "Fenty Effect", as cosmetic companies across the industry began to expand their shade ranges to better serve diverse skin tones, with forty shades becoming the benchmark.
In 2018, Rihanna launched the lingerie brand Savage X Fenty, designed as an inclusive label offering products in a wide range of shades and sizes. The line debuted at New York Fashion Week in September 2018 and was praised for its diversity, particularly for featuring plus-size models, though some critics felt larger sizes were still underrepresented. In September 2019, Savage X Fenty returned to New York Fashion Week with a show at the Barclays Center, featuring models such as Joan Smalls, Bella Hadid, and Cara Delevingne. It premiered on Amazon Prime Video that month as the Savage X Fenty Show, and was renewed as Vol. 2 in October 2020, Vol. 3 in September 2021, and Vol. 4 in November 2022. She stepped down as CEO in June 2023.
Rihanna launched the fashion brand Fenty under luxury group LVMH in May 2019. She became the first woman to create an original brand for LVMH and the first woman of colour to lead one of its houses. The line debuted in a Paris pop-up on May 22 before a worldwide online release seven days later, featuring clothing, accessories, and footwear. It was LVMH's first new fashion house since 1987. In February 2021, amid the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, Rihanna and LVMH agreed to suspend the brand and focus on expanding the Savage X Fenty lingerie line. In July 2020, Rihanna introduced Fenty Skin, a skin care line debuting with a cleanser, toning serum, and moisturizer-sunscreen, designed to be gender-neutral and inclusive of all skin tones. In June 2024, she launched the hair care brand Fenty Hair, offering products formulated to suit all hair types, textures, and routines.
Rihanna exclusively uses her surname for ventures outside of music to keep her business and artistic identities separate. In January 2019, Rihanna filed a lawsuit against her father, Ronald Fenty, over the use of the Fenty name for commercial purposes. The lawsuit alleged that Rihanna's cosmetics brand, Fenty Beauty, was damaged commercially by her father's company, Fenty Entertainment, through misrepresentation of his company being affiliated with her. She dropped the lawsuit in September 2021.
