Major props are given to Rihanna. In an image released, the FENTY fashion ad shows a model’s unretouched facial scars.
Model Awen Mayen Chuol spoke out about her scars, “I don’t know if you’ve seen images of me, but I have a lot of facial scars. People tell me I look like a jaguar or that I’m ‘exotic. Sometimes I just want to shout at everyone: ‘Look at me, I’m not just a scar, I’m a human.’ But I get it, it’s a curiosity. I know I’m different, I know my facial features are different, but to me that’s beauty,” Chuol told Dazed and Confused last year.
Rihanna decided to flip the script and gave the finger to the standards of fashion and beauty. The artist and fashion designer wanted to celebrate the imperfections everyone has.
While challenging to change the norms in luxury fashion, she’s the first and youngest woman of color that the fashion house LVMH bet on. For the iconic French multinational luxury goods conglomerate, creating a new fashion maison is unheard of.
But when you have someone as innovative and disruptive as Rihanna who is speaking to the generation of today, it’s a business partnership hard to pass up on.
For their first set of campaigns, the Fenty fashion ad didn’t stop at unretouched facials scars. It continued with even curvy mannequins, curvy models, different genders (or non-conforming), different complexions, and most recently a 67-year-old model, showing that anyone at any age can be vibrant and beautiful.
“FENTY beauty was created for everyone: For women of all shades, personalities, attitudes, cultures, and races. I wanted everyone to feel included. That’s the real reason I made this line,” the makeup brand quotes Rihanna on its website.
As the name of her sixth album suggests, Rihanna is “Unapologetic” about her opinions.
