Rihanna wearing Fenty x PUMA Avanti shoes. Courtesy of PUMA
If you’ve been waiting for some Rihanna news, here it is. She’s back, and this time it’s with an exciting partnership with PUMA.
Rihanna always makes headlines for her impeccable taste in fashion, whether she’s walking on the Met Gala steps or casually walking down the street. With the new Fenty x PUMA collection, you too can step in style the Rihanna way.
Returning to PUMA as the Creative Director for Fenty X PUMA, she secured a multi-year partnership with several future product launches with the sports brand. The first of these launches is the Fenty X PUMA Avanti, a footwear franchise that blends the classic Avanti style with Rihanna’s personal touch.
This is not Rihanna’s first partnership with the company. From 2015 to 2018, she launched several footwear and apparel collections, and held four fashion shows in New York and Paris together with PUMA. Some of the most popular products from previous collaborations include the Fenty PUMA bow sneaker, Fenty PUMA trainer, and Fenty PUMA fur slides.
For this collection, Rihanna turned to her love for football. From the high-quality leather design (inspired by the King football boot) to the outsole (inspired by the heritage running shoe Easy Rider), her personal design language and creative elements are prominent in every detail of the footwear. It’s her own spin on this classic PUMA style, with the buttery soft vintage leather and a fold-over tongue finished with a debossed and printed gold-foil Fenty and PUMA CAT logo. They also highlighted PUMA’s deep history and heritage in football by incorporating a gum outsole and leather footbed. In the black and white version, they complimented it with a chrome execution with laser etched logos and leather chrome details.
Another crucial part of designing the shoes is Rihanna and PUMA’s goal to offer the collection to families. They wanted to deliver a collection that “looks arguably cool on kids as it will on their parents.” Rihanna’s take on the Avanti just does this — delivering a unisex design that can be worn by anyone at any age.
The football trend is reflected in the Fenty x PUMA campaign as well. The set design was inspired by the pentagon shape and stitching on a football. Guided by Rihanna’s creative direction, the campaign was shot by Dennis Leupold and featured notable figures including Rihanna herself, A$AP Nast, Felix Mallard, Pure, and two young kids.
The collection is an “exciting start to our partnership,” according to Maria Valdes, PUMA’s Chief Product Officer. She said, “The Avanti is a PUMA classic – leaning on our sport heritage but with a fashion edge. As always, Rihanna took it to a whole new level. I’m very happy to see this project come to life and even more excited for what the coming years have in store for us together.” PUMA also mentioned that a second Avanti drop will be coming our way in the fall, with more details to be released soon.
The Fenty x PUMA Avanti will be internationally available on puma.com and select retailers this September 15, 2023 at 10am EST.
