Rihanna on Fenty x PUMA: "My Vision Is To Bring Family Into Everything”
Hypebeast spoke with Rih about the past, present and future of her breakthrough collaboration with the German sportswear brand.
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“If the Addams Family went to the gym, this is what they would wear,” Rihanna famously described her debut Fenty x PUMA runway collection — one filled with vampy hoodie-dresses, bad-gal bombers and hybrid sneaker-stilettos — in 2016. At the time, the Barbadian superstar was basking in the success of her now-six-time platinum-certified album, Anti; rehearsing for the record’s imminent world tour, and ideating the expansion of her PUMA collaboration’s eulogized Creeper sneaker, which debuted in September of the year prior. Back then, Rihanna said that her creative process, be that in music or fashion design, was inspired by “attitude.” Now, three brand launches, two pregnancies and one Super Bowl Halftime Show later, RiRi’s mood board looks distinctly different: most notably, she’s bid farewell to the Addams Family and welcomed one of her own.
“My vision is to bring family into everything,” Rih told Hypebeast on her way inside the newly-revived Creeper’s launch celebration in Los Angeles earlier this week, sporting a “Lavender Alert/Burnt Red” pair of the updated sneaker. The shoe is the second product to come from the new-age Fenty x PUMA, which made its official debut in September with the reveal of the Avanti, a football-inspired shoe that merges design elements from PUMA’s King silhouette and Easy Rider runner. At launch, Rihanna likened the partnership’s return to a “family reunion;” and today, she’s keen on keeping the familial feel at the fore of its output.
Fenty X Puma
Fenty X Puma
Fenty X Puma
Fenty X Puma
Fenty X Puma
Fenty X Puma
Fenty X Puma
It’s been five years since the conclusion of Rihanna’s first Fenty x PUMA collaboration, which bred four fully-fledged ready-to-wear collections across the Fall 2016 to Spring 2018 seasons, as well as a number of highly successful footwear releases — in addition to the flagship Creeper, the partnership was also behind the fan-approved slip-on trainers, bow sneakers and faux-fur slides. The first-ever Creeper launch crashed PUMA’s website, and the sneaker would ultimately go on to sell out in every new colorway, helping push PUMA’s sales to almost $1 billion USD in the first year of the partnership alone.
In 2018, the collaboration quietly vanished, following a final “Drippin” event at Coachella. In the years that followed, fans thirsted for more Fenty x PUMA, holding onto hope that untraceable rumors of a comeback could one day be true. In March of this year, Rihanna took to social media with just two words — “She’s back” — signaling the return of the fruitful partnership, thanks to “fan demand.”
“I can design and design and design, but being able to design for kids, and being able to see my children in my designs … that’s really exciting.” — Rihanna
“The first time around, Rihanna was more driven by the idea of a big collection,” Heiko Desens, PUMA’s global creative director, told Hypebeast. “Now, she’s more focused than ever.” In lieu of the massive runway spectacles that defined the first chapter of Fenty x PUMA, the second installment is more pointed, with succinct releases that make clear callbacks to the archives — and also come in an expansive range of children’s sizes. “I can design and design and design, but being able to design for kids, and being able to see my children in my designs … that’s really exciting,” said Rihanna, parent to RZA and Riot Rose with A$AP Rocky.
Narrative is key to Rihanna’s creative process, and with PUMA, she looks to marry the brand’s archival tales with those of her own personal storyline. “Puma has such a rich history, and I think that’s where the body [of the design ethos] is at,” said Rih. The Avanti, for instance, dates back to 2001, when the original silhouette first debuted as an evolution of the label’s disruptive Jil Sander King athletic sneaker. Today, the Fenty-labeled version cites inspiration in the legends that made PUMA’s football footwear notable in the 1980s, including Eusebio, Pelé and Maradona. Here, Rihanna’s flirtation with sports culture was natural: “Soccer has always been a huge influence in the Caribbean, from our culture to our heroes and to our fashion,” she notes. “Pelé, he’s king. He was definitely a major influence for me in bringing this back.”
Fenty X Puma
Fenty X Puma
Fenty X Puma
Fenty X Puma
But if Fenty x PUMA was really a family, the Creeper would undoubtedly be the favorite child. Where the inaugural version of the shoe saw the upper of the PUMA Suede pounce on a throwback “double creeper” sole that nodded to the ‘70s UK punk movement, the 2023 iteration, dubbed the Creeper Phatty, is all about being “bigger, better and bolder,” according to Rih. The original silhouette, which took home the 2016 Shoe of the Year award, was dearly beloved by fans — so much so, there was really no choice to go big or go home with its return.
“We made [the shoe] a little fatty,” Rihanna explained. “Everybody’s getting thick. That’s the thing now. So PUMA can get thick too.” The shoe is extra in all forms of the word, featuring an oversized construction, a stacked gum sole and evocative colorways. “Here we wanted to make it more aggressive, younger, flashy,” said Desens. “There’s a lot of ‘cartoonifaction’ influencing sportswear, and the Creeper, with its exaggerated outsole, was just a perfect model to be more playful with padding, colors and laces.”
“When you see something that’s inauthentic for someone, it’s blatant, and it’s blaring. It’s forced. I hate that. That turns me off.” —Rihanna
When asked about the potential for more Fenty x PUMA ready-to-wear, Rihanna enthusiastically confirmed, “You already know that’s the plan. We’ll just have to keep waiting and seeing.” In classic Bad Gal fashion, the excitement lies in the mystery. (Are we ever getting R9?) Luckily, however, Desens added a little more context regarding what can be expected from new-era Fenty x PUMA clothing: “We will be sticking to a similar strategy as our footwear. It’s going to be a more item-driven approach, and you can be sure that it will also have a strong sports culture influence.”
How exactly that influence will manifest is up for debate, but with Rihanna in the creative director’s chair, the product will be genuine. “When you see something that’s inauthentic for someone, it’s blatant, and it’s blaring,” she said. “It’s forced. I hate that. That turns me off.” On the record, Rihanna, as of late, is “turned on” by the “great, patient, loving” father that A$AP Rocky is to their children. So, if anything’s for certain, it’s that her future clothing drops will be available in kid’s sizes too — after all, Fenty x PUMA is all about the family now.
