Rihanna Speaks on New Creative Director Role at PUMA

Earlier this week, PUMA made entertainment headlines for naming pop superstar Rihanna its creative director of PUMA Women. The Barbadian songstress has become a contemporary icon in fashion over the last few years, so the recent appointment isn’t all that of a surprise, especially when you consider friends Pharrell, Swizz Beatz, Alicia Keys and more have also recently jumped into the world of fashion in creative director roles. In a recent interview with WWD, Rihanna speaks on PUMA, her love for designing, sneakers and plans for 2015. Check out the excerpt below, and head over to WWD for the remaining Q&As.

WWD: What’s the first thing that pops to your mind when you hear Puma?

Rihanna: My childhood. Some of the first sneakers I owned were Puma, and I wore them to death, until they had holes in them. They were sleek running shoes, I had them in pink with the black Puma stripes on the side. They also made them in Jamaican colors and so in the Caribbean it was like: What? Jamaican colors? That was the it-shoe in Barbados — if you didn’t have those, [that was it]. You know how kids are.

WWD: How does music, your core activity, relate to fashion?

Rihanna: Music and fashion go hand in hand. I think music inspires all types of arts; it inspires life, emotion, mood, and all of those things are reflected in my fashion and my style. One doesn’t go without the other.

WWD: How serious are you about your designing career? Are you ready to take it deeper?

Rihanna: I love designing. I’ve always enjoyed it. The thing I love most is the unexpected result between my brand and theirs, the combination, the marriage — it’s like having a baby, you put two things together and all of the sudden it bursts into a new thing. It’s life. At River Island I was able to see stuff come to life, draw up an idea from scratch, and that made me want to take on a bigger challenge. And MAC was an amazing experience — from creating packaging to going through textures. I would love to do cosmetics, because I love beauty: choosing colors, creating shapes. It’s like painting, you just get to play. The same way I treated MAC, I will attack Puma.