You can take the girl out of Giorgio Baldi, but you can’t take the bad gal out of the girl. That was apparent in Rihanna’s latest outing to the Santa Monica celebrity hotspot. The family-owned-and-operated business has played host to a number of Rihanna’s street-style looks over the years. (Including, what is arguably this GRAZIA writer’s favourite occurrence, the time a heavily-pregnant RiRi stepped out in head-to-toe Miu Miu Fall/Winter 2022 in a crystal-embellished net tank top and skirt layered over a pair of baby blue satin panties and bralette.)
For this instance, the newly blonde songstress eschewed an overt display of sartorial prowess for a more subtle style lesson—mastering the art of high/low dressing. For the uninitiated, this concept involves pairing contrasting pieces on either side of the fashion spectrum, whether that be through mixing formal and informal garments in one unified ensemble or softening an expensive statement piece with something more affordable and demure to ensure a cohesive silhouette. Of course, when you’re a woman with one of the most coveted, designer-laden wardrobes in the world, the latter doesn’t apply to you. Instead, Rihanna offered up a tutorial on playing with textures and fabric to elevate the everyday.
To do so, the mother-of-two began with a standard going-out uniform; blue jeans and a graphic t-shirt. (Again, when you’re Rihanna these pieces aren’t just run-of-the-mill wardrobe staples, but rather courtesy of French luxury houses like Balenciaga, such as the case with her denim.) Rihanna dressed up the look by reaching for rows of pearls, including a string of South Sea yellow pearls that she wore at a princess length and lustrous freshwater pearls worn as an opera necklace. Rihanna continued the pearlescent colour story with a double-face duchesse silk trapeze coat from Adam Lippes and Gucci GG slingback pumps in a blush hue.
Though Jenna Lyons reminded everyone of the rules of mixing too many labels when she chastised Jessel Tank for doing just that in the Real Housewives of New York reboot, (“You can’t have Alexander Wang on your back and Balenciaga on your bag,” the former J.CREW creative director said), Rihanna proved to be exempt from this rule by carrying a Dior Saddle Bag and rectangle-frame Gucci glasses. Breaking fashion’s rules is exactly the kind of behaviour we expect from our favourite bad gal.
