Rihanna Wore Fulani Braids On The Red Carpet — & Fans Flipped

Whenever we finally begin to recover from one of Rihanna’s drop-dead beauty looks, she strikes us with another. Last night, the Fenty front-woman attended the British Fashion Awards in London wearing a mint-green ensemble that was dripping with diamonds. But her Fulani braids were what made the entire look feel especially regal, and fans immediately took to Twitter to express their admiration.

The Fulani pattern, which is named after the Fula people of West Africa, features braids of various sizes and designs that are commonly weaved in different directions (front to back and back to front). For Rihanna's look, her stylists Yusef Williams and Naphia White mixed alternating triangle parts with single braids that dangled over her ears to frame her face.

The result was not only a gorgeous protective style we'll be taking to our braider before the holidays but an even greater moment of representation when Rihanna took the stage to accept the BFA's Urban Luxe fashion award. As Black women fight to end natural hair discrimination in schools and workplaces across the country, and celebs like Gabrielle Union report being told not to wear styles that are "too black" for television, Rihanna used her platform to show that braids and cornrows are glorious for every occasion — especially on the red carpet — and should be celebrated as such.

Wrote blogger CorporateWithCornrows, "@voguemagazine acknowledging cornrows for British Fashion Awards?! What a time to be alive!
Destigmatize cornrows - book the appointment sis!"

Rihanna's win and statement-making hairstyle comes on the same day she was named the first Black female artist to have an album on the Billboard 200 charts for 200 weeks for her 2016 release, ANTI. If that isn't the epitome of Black-girl magic, we don't know what is.