Instagram has dubbed Paris fashion week #PaRih. Why? Because while trotting from one show to the next, the pop sensation has completely stolen the style spotlight. That sophisticated gray look she wore to Lanvin? That sheer fishnet number she rocked post-Balmain? The cherry red fur she donned at Dior? We’ll go so far as to say she’s been flawless through and through. Team Style.com’s favorite outfit, however, was the one she sported to Comme des Garçons. It was a mash-up of wares by three emerging talents: Adam Selman (her River Island co-designer), Melitta Baumeister, and Hyein Seo. The latter two were featured in the VFiles Made Fashion show in February, and Riri’s choice to wear Baumeister’s oversize pleather jacket and Seo’s faux-fur “Fear” stole will no doubt help catapult these up-and-comers to stardom. “I think it was our best look of the week,” Rihanna’s stylist, Mel Ottenberg, told Style.com. “Melitta’s coat was one of the greatest coats of the season, even if a lot of people haven’t heard of her yet. That whole collection blew my mind. And Hyein Seo; I was flipping through Style.com, showed Rihanna pictures, and she loved it. She was totally amazed and wanted to wear the fur with a look from Adam [Selman]‘s collection.”
Naturally, the designers are over the moon about bad gal Riri scooping up their Fall ’14 styles. “It’s a reassurance that you’re doing something that people are reacting to,” said Baumeister, who has also dressed Lady Gaga. “And Rihanna is such a great star to wear it. It really proves that the collection is relevant to what’s going on right now.”
VFiles founder and CEO Julie Anne Quay shared Baumeister’s excitement—after all, she helped select Baumeister and Seo for the fashion platform’s Fall runway romp. “Rihanna wearing those designers shows that she believes in the next generation and the future of fashion,” Quay said. “And the fact that she would go to a Comme des Garçons show in that, where everyone around her is wearing Comme or Chanel, I mean, that’s a statement.”
When asked if that statement was intentional, Ottenberg offered, “When there’s a great moment to chose something unknown, it makes us really happy for the designer. It’s fun to do something that not everybody else is doing. Comme des Garçons is a huge supporter of young talent, and it felt right. It was one of those chances to do whatever we wanted.”
As for the future plans of Riri’s rising stars, Selman is storming the fashion sphere after his breakout sophomore presentation last month; Seo is wrapping up her master’s degree at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Antwerp; and Baumeister is aiming to hold her debut solo show next New York fashion week. “I hope it will be possible. I’m just going to have to make it happen somehow,” said the Parsons M.A. fashion grad. We have a feeling that she’ll persevere.
