Rihanna’s November Vogue Cover Is Historic

Okay, friends. Come close to the screen because we have a lot of information to get through and we're going to do it fast. Rihanna Robyn Fenty just made history again. And no, it's not related to her upending the beauty industry with Fenty Beauty (though she did set a new standard for what a foundation shade range should look like). Nor is it the groundbreaking deal she secured with Amazon to show her Savage x Fenty show in 200 countries around the world, killing the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in the process. It's not even her LVMH-backed clothing and accessories line, Fenty, that disrupted the way we shop for luxury items. It all centres around her latest Vogue cover.

On Wednesday, Vogue magazine shared its November 2019 cover starring Rihanna. “So proud to be on another cover of @voguemagazine wearing my own designs from @fenty !!! On stands October 16th!” she shared on Instagram.

Here's where the historic part comes in: This is Rihanna's sixth cover for the publication, which means she now has the most solo American Vogue covers of any black woman in history. Prior to this month, she covered the magazine in April 2011, November 2012, March 2014, April 2016, and June 2018. Previously, Rihanna and Shari Belafonte were tied for the same amount of solo American Vogue covers with five. (Belafonte's first cover was shot by Richard Avedon in 1982 and she had five throughout the '80s.) Naomi Campbell has two solo American Vogue covers, and Lupita Nyong'o and Beyoncé both have four.

Inside the issue, Rihanna talks about which fashion houses give her designer envy (Balenciaga!) and she breaks down the Fenty brand ethos. Jahleel Weaver, Fenty maison’s style director, tells Vogue that in order to cement the brand's design aesthetic, he had to stop limiting it to one aspect of Rihanna's style. "'It’s kind of all over the place. But I get it ’cause I’m all over the place,’” he recalls her saying. “Every woman isn’t Rihanna, but many women relate to her all-over-the-place-ness. She is fearless, but she is also a businesswoman. She’s a girlfriend. She’s a friend. She’s all of these things.”