NEW YORK, United States — Rihanna has sold 60 million albums and released 14 chart-topping singles. It’s no wonder, then, that when she decided to stage a streaming fashion show for her Savage x Fenty line, rebooting a format invented by American lingerie giant Victoria’s Secret, she tapped into her experience as a star entertainer.
On Tuesday night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, her hyped Savage x Fenty extravaganza was an action-packed series of complex choreographed dances by model-performers of all skin tones and sizes, with special appearances from runway regulars like Gigi Hadid and musical performances by DJ Khaled, Halsey, Big Sean, Migos and more.
But unlike the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, her dancers and models here didn’t just strut, they twerked and body rolled, performing athletic, complex moves designed by Parris Goebe of "Sorry" by Justin Bieber fame. It was sexy, but not gratuitous.
Rihanna opened the show with some dance moves of her own, in the middle of a set of interlocking stairs and a central shallow pool situated in a curtained off section of the Barclays Center arena. But she otherwise ceded the spotlight to her models and performers.
Hers was the first of just under a dozen different high energy, disco-lit scenes, which followed each other in quick succession and were tracked by graceful cameramen carrying handhelds. The performers mostly played to the camera, not the audience, which included top fashion editors like Anna Wintour and Edward Enninful; celebrities like Diplo, Wale and Candice Swanepoel; and longtime collaborators like Mel Ottenberg; as well as plenty of suits.
They are definitely taking a page out of the Victoria’s Secret playbook.
With its supermodels and slate of musical guests, Rihanna’s second Savage x Fenty show was a clear shot at Victoria’s Secret's signature annual televised runway fashion show. It even borrowed some of its models and performs, like Gigi and Bella Hadid and Halsey. (Rihanna partnered with Prodject — the creative agency behind runway shows for Tom Ford and Prada — and Endeavor Content, which develops film and TV projects for the agency’s clients, to produce the event.)
“They are definitely taking a page out of the Victoria’s Secret playbook,” said retail consultant Gabriella Santaniello of A Line partners.
Victoria's Secret's production aired for 23 years, but the company has not said it will not televise it this year, or necessarily stage it at all, following declining ratings for recent editions as well as sliding sales. The lingerie giant has been criticised for failing to adapt to the times by sticking with a stereotypical female ideal in its roster of Angels.
Unlike the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, which aired on conventional television and mostly consisted of not-for-sale costumes, the Savage x Fenty show will start streaming globally to Amazon Prime’s 200 million members on September 20 — and the lingerie will be immediately for sale. Viewers will be able to buy the Savage x Fenty bras, underwear and sleepwear directly on Amazon or the brand’s e-commerce site.
Rihanna’s beauty and fashion businesses have become her priority in recent years over her musical career — her eighth and most recent album was released in 2016. She launched her Fenty makeup range with LVMH's Kendo in 2017 and followed that in 2018 with the launch of Savage x Fenty lingerie, a joint venture with fashion platform Techstyle Fashion Group. The Fenty beauty line generated over €500 million in its first full year in business.
Both lines gained traction early on because they offered more than the standard. Fenty Beauty launched with 40 shades of foundation tones (now up to 50), while Savage X Fenty sells bras from 32A to 46DDD and underwear and sleepwear in sizes XS to 3X. Both brands feature a diverse lineup of models in their campaign imagery, and have benefitted from the hype around Rihanna and the influence she has had on fashion and beauty trends throughout her career. Rihanna also launched a ready-to-wear line with LVMH this past spring.
“Rihanna has been clever and very strategic about the way she’s tapped into what people want to see,” said marketing consultant and creative strategist Emma Rees.
Rihanna has been clever and very strategic about the way she’s tapped into what people want to see.
With this latest and grandest stunt, Rihanna appears to be setting the stage for a direct challenge to the wounded Victoria’s Secret for dominance of the lingerie market. With an estimated $150 million in annual revenue, Savage x Fenty still has a long way to go to eat into Victoria’s Secret’s more than $7 billion in sales. However, the L Brands-owned retailer is indeed losing ground to fast-growing competition. Not just Savage X Fenty but also American Eagle’s Aerie — which is opening dozens of stores as it targets $1 billion in sales — and online start-ups like ThirdLove. All three of those brands put body positivity front and centre in their marketing, though none with as much edge as Savage x Fenty.
Victoria’s Secret is starting to try to adapt to the times, finally. In recent months, it has emphasised that its entire marketing approach is up for reconsideration and has started to highlight curvier models. Its sister brand Pink recently hired its first openly transgender model.
But the newer brands are growing fast, and Victoria’s Secret sales are shrinking, with comparable-store sales in North America decreasing 8 percent in the first half of 2019. The upstarts are also more digitally savvy. Rihanna is likely to build anticipation for the release of her show’s video on Amazon through clips released to her legions of followers: 75 million on Instagram, 93 million on Twitter and 32 million on Youtube. Anything the popstar does or wears is closely tracked and generates plenty of hype.
In today’s fragmented internet landscape, mega-celebrities like Rihanna can have more influence than brands, said Jordan Fox, founder and president of digital and personal branding group MMP Group. He said Rihanna has been more successful than some of her celebrity peers because of the team she’s built around her and her relatable and accessible personality.
“People want to see that you can wear multiple hats, everyone wants to be an entrepreneur, but not everyone is made for it,” he said. Rihanna proves it can be done, even if she continues to distance herself from the music industry.
She isn’t the only one shrewdly building consumer-product businesses around her personal brand: other stars turned moguls include Jessica Alba, Reese Witherspoon, the Kardashian-Jenners and Gywneth Paltrow.
Mystique is something that will continue to drive social media and make for viral content.
Investors agree. Savage x Fenty announced a $50 million funding round last month from Jay-Z’s Marcy Venture Partners LLC and Avenir Growth Capital.
But does Rihanna have enough star power to build a business that can actually rival Victoria’s Secret and its annual fashion show, which at its peak attracted more than 10 million television viewers? Santaniello said it will be difficult.
“The days of that type of hype are gone,” she said. “I think a lot of men watched, obviously fans of Victoria’s Secret Angels. I think now it’s going to be more women tuning in.”
Viewership alone is likely not the point, and probably not a barometer for success, what with all the opportunities for engagement around the content and clips from the show on all the platforms where Rihanna has influence.
“That mystique is something that will continue to drive social media and make for viral content,” said Fox.
There’s a big belief in the company that we need to evolve.
Meanwhile, in Columbus on Tuesday, L Brands happened to choose the same day as Rihanna’s big show to present investors with its new plan to adapt to the modern consumer. Chief Executive and Founder Les Wexner took the opportunity to denounce his former financial advisor Jeffrey Epstein again, but their relationship is still a shadow over the company. (L Brands has hired an outside law firm to investigate further.) Victoria’s Secret Chief Executive John Mehas and Pink Chief Executive Amy Hauk affirmed that the brand is rethinking its marketing approach, in part by hiring models who better resemble real women. (Former marketing head Edward Razek — the man widely credited with creating the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show — exited in August.)
“There’s a big belief in the company that we need to evolve,” said Mehas according to Bloomberg. “It’s a fine line in terms of rethinking the next evolution of the brand and we’re being thoughtful about what that looks like.”
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