News Archives -- Michele Mode

Rihanna sunglasses line Fenty marries style and glitz

By Michele Meyer, for AllAboutVision.com (my latest client!)

Robyn Rihanna Fenty ― aka RiRi ― has it made in the shade. The pop star just launched Fenty, a fashion brand featuring futuristic unisex sunglasses and other womenswear.

Take note before you dismiss her label as yet another been-there, done-that, now-you-see-it-then-you-don’t celebrity collection spurred by Rihanna’s Instagram followers  (71.5 million).

LVMH, one of the biggest players in luxury, is backing her history-making (first woman and person of color) fashion house, or “maison,” in their parlance.

Fenty also is Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy’s first new fashion house since Christian Lacroix in 1987.

Rihanna tweeted about her new Fenty sunglasses line.

Fenty joins LVMH’s lauded style stable that includes Christian Dior, Givenchy, Louis Vuitton and Fendi — and totaled $20.5 million in sales last year.

The singer/CEO already is a proven performer for LVMH. Her makeup, Fenty Beauty, brought in $560 million last year.

Impressed yet? Dior designer Maria Grazia Chiuri, Balmain designer Olivier Rousteing and British Vogue editor-in-chief Edward Enninful attended the intimate introduction of Rihanna’s Fenty eyewear line in Paris last month.

Readying her new wares could explain her surprising absence from May’s Met Gala, the New York Museum of Art annual fundraiser that has been dubbed the East Coast Oscars. After all, Rihanna is known for unforgettable get-ups and grand entrances.

She also has been busy with homework, training via collabs with Dior (glasses), Chopard (jewelry), Armani (biker jackets and T-shirts), Puma (sneakers) and Savage (lingerie).

Starting this week, anyone can buy her specs online for $420-$480 at Fenty .

She offers three styles, each in three versions: Anti-Social, Blockt Mask and Guarded Mask.

Rihanna’s sunglasses are loud, unapologetic and talking that talk. The shades are just one of the fashion brands under her umbrella now.

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About the writer: Fashion writer Michele Meyer admits to owning eight pairs of glasses, though her ardor for face-jewelry began long before her mother failed to coerce her into contacts. She pays for her habit writing for All About Vision, Palm Beach Illustrated, Modern Luxury, Four Seasons, CMO.com, INVISION and VCPN, among others.

By  MICHELE MEYER

Karl was the most talented person I knew: larger than life, a maestro of la mode, a great showman.

He was a brilliant photographer, illustrator and interior designer. A voracious reader, witty and subversive quote machine and whirl of activity whom it’s hard to imagine being still. He honored Coco Chanel, while modernizing her wares and making them cool, not stodgy. Even pearls. The theme of one collection I saw was Goldfinger. And in his fingerless gloves (to hide aging), his hands spun gold. There’ll never be another Karl – and that’s a massive loss for us all.

© CHANEL

Another Italian label — Gucci — offends with its $890 balaclava-style sweater.

It joins Prada and Dolce & Gabbana, who also have used racist images in the past few months.

That this happened at all is horrible. That it has happened repeatedly is unforgivable.

This is 2019, NOT 1859. And it’s #BlackHistoryMonth.

An update: As I look backward in 2020, such ignorance would be utterly unacceptable.

In fact, I’m not sure even major brands like Prada and Gucci could survive such blunders today, when #BlackLivesMatter.

Nota Bene: Designers, learn from their mistakes. Your life as a fashion label depends on it.

Where do I begin…Everything that’s wrong with current trends is captured in this label’s wares, starting with the Maison Alexandrine collection’s name: prêt-à–couture — an oxymoron if ever there was one.

The current approach to design is: Go crazy. The Maison certainly has — but they’re not alone. So have Gucci, Fendi and so many others.

FEATHER DUSTER WITH A BOW

I’d hide my face too!

HOWDY, COWGIRL

Can’t choose between a turban and a cowboy hat? Wear both!

Transparent top and “sweat” pants in an intense aqua? Not unflattering enough? Well, slap pockets on the hips and adorn the top with flowerettes. Sure, why not? They’re all in “fashion,” right?

WHITE AND BLACK — YOU CAN’T GO WRONG

Oh, yes you can.

First, we’ve got a blouse with ruffles, bows, lace and an overwrought silhouette. Congrats, you look like a substandard poodle.

But that white tuxedo suit really chaps my hips. It would be so beautiful without the rows of fringe. Fortunately, they’re attached to the belt so they’re removable.

As my mother would’ve said, when in doubt, leave it on the rack!

Not adequately appalled? Follow me on Instagram: @Michele_Meyer77.

On some level, fashion is a façade — the one you choose to present to others.

New York accessories designer Kate Spade adopted a sunny smile, beehive and color-saturated wardrobe befitting her equally cheerful and bright merchandise.

Little did many know what she was masking, as evidenced by her suicide this week at age 55.

Neither that, nor her success, justify “insiders” and estranged relatives trashing her privacy, as happened recently with Meghan Markle.

Please let Kate Rest in Peace. She’s earned it.

Day and night. Black and white.

A month before her wedding to Great Britain’s Prince Harry, Meghan Markle’s personal fashion show has been all about styling – and selling merchandise.

This week her Black Halo LBD (inspired by London-based Roland Mouret’s famously flattering Galaxy dress) was a safe bet. She wisely wore her hair up to flaunt the neckline and added sky-high Aquazzura stilettos.

Simple elegance.

Her daytime look that day married an ink and white striped dress with a lovely striped cross-body bag and a great DB blazer.

But the ensemble was a fashion fail – by a repeat offender.

So much went wrong. Let me count the ways:

1) Coat sleeves are there for a reason. Use them! Otherwise, this sharply tailored blazer creates an unflattering shoulder hump.

2) All those buttons and the high-waisted belt are too busy, especially with the handbag.

3) If you insist on buttons on your dress, have them match the blazer’s buttons.

4) if you have a great body, show it off with a fitted dress, not this sad sack.

5) Beyond the garments themselves, Markle comes off as a clothes huckster. Even in her evening look, she clutches her Gucci clutch unnaturally, with fingers pointing to the Gucci clasp.

Shilling clothes does not befit America’s first “princess” since Grace Kelly. That, in itself, is not a good look.