US Vogue has had a good year as far as its covers are concerned. Meryl Streep, Jennifer Lopez, Lady Gaga and Marion Cotillard are just some of the good cover stars its had this year and by the sounds of it, the magazine is set to end the year on a high.
Last week, Annie Leibovitz revealed that Rihanna and Anne Hathaway will respectively cover the magazine's November and December issue. Who will cover which issue isn't clear but the timing makes sense for both stars. RiRi has just dropped a new single, Diamonds, and will release her seventh album in November and Hathway's new film, Les Miserables (the one she cut her hair for), is out in December.
When Rihanna announced that she would launch reality design competition, Styled To Rock. I really wanted to like it. I mean, I'm as much of a fan of RiRi's as the next person but something about the concept felt a bit done. I mean, call me cynical but on the whole, design reality shows haven't done too well in the past let alone finding someone with genuine fashion potential and sadly, her show seems to be suffering a similar fate.
According to the Sun, the first episode received overnight viewing figures of only 95,000, which is considerably lower than the channel's usual audience of 153,000 for that time slot. Figures have since got worse with the second episode pulling in 79,000 viewers leading bosses at Sky Living to release this statement: 'We are very happy with the performance of Styled to Rock in Sky homes.' It continues: 'In these days of on-demand TV, the ratings for a show's premiere are far less important than once was the case. Nearly half a million customers have already enjoyed the first episode, which includes people watching through either Sky+, our Sky Anytime service or repeats.'
So the wait is over. That's, of course, for those of you who are actually excited about Rihanna's new show, 'Styled To Rock,' to launch. The fashion competition/reality show is set to hit the air tonight on Sky Living (sorry US readers) after a big push over the last few weeks.
Talking to British Vogue, Rihanna explained that the show was not just about finding someone to design a show outfit for her. 'We're hoping to find the next superstar designer to dress superstars - someone like Vivienne Westwood or Alexander McQueen.' Call me cynical but past design reality shows have proved that that doesn't really happen and considering that the winner designed the outfit in the image above that the singer wore to the Hackney Weekender this year, it's not looking too promising. Saying that, I'm sure I'll find myself tuning in at some stage even if it is just to satisfy my curiosity.
When River Island announced that they are partnering up with Rihanna on a special collection last month, I had a suspicion that there was something bigger behind it. Despite having 300 stores at home and abroad, River Island still isn't as well known internationally as other British high street stores like Topshop. Their partnership with Rihanna, then, sounded like part of a bigger plan to raise their profile international and considering today's reports, it looks like I was on to something.
Today the Independent confirmed that the retailer plans to follow in the footsteps of Topshop by opening their first US store in New York's Manhattan next year. At the moment there's still no word about the exact date but considering that Rihanna's collection for them drops early next year, it's pretty safe to assume that the big opening will coincide with the launch. The only big question now is whether Rih Rih will pose in their shop window, Kate Moss style.
As far as hair colours go, red has always been my dream colour. Sadly, though, a concern about ending up looking more like a dancehall queen and less like Rihanna circa 2010 has always thrown me off taking the plunge but that hasn't stopped everyone else.
Florence Welch, Jessica Chastain and Amy Adams are amongst the few leading ladies flying the flag for red hair. And far from shying away from it, more and more celebrities are embracing it as a distinguishing factor from the sea of usual blonde and classic brunettes. Blake Lively experimented with the colour in the past and so has Angelina Jolie and Julia Roberts. Even LiLo decided to ditch her blonde hair (hallelujah) and return to he natural shade recently.
A year or so go there was much speculation about Rihanna possibly collaborating with Topshop on a special line after she was spotted having dinner with Arcadia boss Sir Phillip Green but it looks like that isn't going to happen after all. Today River Island confirmed that they are the ones that have managed to snap the singer up for a design partnership.
'We are thrilled to be collaborating with Rihanna and be the first fashion brand to work with her in this way,' Ben Lewis, River Island Chief Executive, said in a statement. 'Rihanna is a style icon, from street to chic she enjoys her fashion. As soon as we tarted to work together we knew this was a perfect fit. Rihanna will be designing the collection and we will be sharing our fashion experience with her to develop a range her fans will love.'
As we reported, the singer has been in London over the past few weeks shooting a ten-part series with Sky Living HD called Styled to Rock. The show, which is set to premiere next month, sees contestants compete to be in the running to design the outfit that the 24 year-old will wear at the Wireless Festival.
Aside from Rihanna's own stylist, the judging panel, which also includes Nicola Roberts and Henry Holland, failed to excite me. That said, I've been told by good authority that the show should be pretty good and based on the trailer, it's not looking too bad.
Elle are undoubtedly going to clean up with their circulation numbers for August with that perfectly timed Katie Holmes cover but US Harper's Bazaar will not too far behind. Since shaking things up earlier on this year, the magazine has had a string of strong covers and their latest one starring Rihanna is no exception and besides, the singer's covers always tend to go down well on the newsstands.
Last week I showed you a preview of the subscriber's cover showing the singer sporting a Fall 2012 Tom Ford dress but recently, the full editorial was released online. On the official cover, which was shot by Camilla Akrans, Rihanna looks refreshingly paired back wearing a simple but classic Calvin Klein dress and a gold Neil Lane bracelet. This is by far, the best editorial we've seen from her a long while.
I think it's safe to say that Rihanna's last big cover didn't go down particularly well. While her accompanying spread in US Elle's wasn't too bad, it was the cover, which showed off her blonde hair and black roots, that was generally to blame for the criticisms. Over the weekend it emerged that the 24 year-old has bagged another cover but this time for US Harper's Bazaar's August issue and so far things are looking good.
The image that has hit the net is said to be the magazine's subscriber's issue and sees the singer sport a gold dress from Tom Ford's Fall 2012 collection along with blue snakeskin boots, in what is her first ever cover for the US title. The magazine has been doing well with their covers and fashion stories since their big redesign earlier on this year so I'm sure we'll be in for a treat.
At last night's Met Gala Rihanna confirmed that her plan to launch her own label is well underway. In the meantime, though, she's continuing to lend her designing skills to Armani. Yesterday the brand announced that the singer has designed another capsule collection for both Armani Jeans and Emporio Armani underwear. The collection, which will feature everything from denim shorts with tartan rolls up to simple tanks and tops, will hit stores worldwide next April.
