Monday, October 7, 2019

Rihanna's (Visual) Autobiography Is Coming

First she conquered the charts, then beauty counters, then fashion. And now Rihanna has set her sights on the publishing world. The mogul used an Instagram video montage on Monday to announce the upcoming release of Rihanna, a visual autobiography she revealed has been “over five years in the making”.

Naturally, Rihanna is swerving the typical celeb autobiography format – you're unlikely to find her 504-page, hardcover coffee table tome on sale in a train station branch of WHSmith. Published by Phaidon, Rihanna’s “collection of incredible memories” includes previously unpublished images, and will span her trajectory from Barbados to megastardom, via sellout tours and iconic fashion moments, as well as private moments with friends and family along the way.


Described by Rihanna as “my first piece of art in a new industry”, Rihanna will be available in three limited editions: Rihanna: Fenty x Phaidon Edition, Rihanna: Luxury Supreme, and Rihanna: Ultra Luxury Supreme. The latter, an edition of just 10 presented with a custom marble pedestal designed in collaboration with the Haas Brothers – and signed by both Rihanna and the artists – was already sold out online on Monday.

The Instagram montage offers a glimpse at the journey documented in Rihanna, with flashes of images of the star on stage, in a tattoo parlour, on the Met Gala red carpet and more. The book’s release comes after Rihanna defied the traditional constructs of a catwalk show to stage her Savage X Fenty autumn/winter 2019 presentation at New York Fashion Week – an inclusive “fashion musical” that featured an all-star line-up and saw editors relieved of their smartphones. Rather than instantly hitting fans’ social media feeds, the show was aired on Amazon Prime days later. Be it a show, a beauty line, or in this case a book, Rihanna knows how to build hype.

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