Identity

‘She Empowers Women’: Rihanna Fans on the Impact of Her Body-Positive Lingerie

After revolutionizing the beauty industry, Rihanna is helping women all over the world access their inner bad gal with her new lingerie line, Savage x Fenty.

Debuting last Thursday in Brooklyn, Savage x Fenty has already been hailed as a “body-positive lingerie collection” for offering more sizes and colors for various body shapes and skin tones—and all at an affordable price. We headed over to the Williamsburg pop-up store last Friday to take a look around and ask die-hard Rihanna supporters about the importance of the icon’s inclusive effort to help us all become our sexiest selves.

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“Rihanna is my number one idol, my everything role model. She’s so confident in everything she does, and she supports women and empowers women,” Asma Begum (center), who waited in line for four hours to get her hands on Savage x Fenty, told Broadly. “I don’t look up to celebrities besides her—she does so much for the community, for women, for all people. The bra sizes are from the smallest to biggest sizes—Victoria’s Secret doesn’t even carry those sizes. Everything she does, she includes every body, even minorities. I think that’s amazing.”

Her friend Scarlett Alvarez (left), added: “People have unique bodies. I feel like Victoria’s Secret always does one specific type in all their magazines—that’s all you see. But in this line, you see all these different shapes, sizes. And that’s really what we should be doing in today’s society. We shouldn’t be trying to change other people’s body types, we should be embracing them.”

Elyscia Saint-Hilaire (far right) told Broadly that she wants to support Rihanna and her important work to empower women. “To be honest, in a white man’s world, it’s important to really support strong Black women—and Rihanna is obviously one of them,” she said. “She went from being a major pop star to starting all of these businesses with makeup, clothes, perfume, beauty—and now one thing [she’s tackling] is women’s sexuality. Every woman wants to feel beautiful…on the inside and outside.

Teeka Lee (above): “She’s very inclusive and she also makes sure she touches on every race. Everything she sees going on in the world, she tries to be on the forefront of it and be an advocate for everyone. I think that’s amazing and genius.”

Robbie Newell (above): “I’ve been listening to [Rihanna] since I was 14 years old. I’m injured now, [but I’m here to support] the fact that she’s showing all spectrums [of body types]. And the fact that she is a Black woman and I am a Black woman—and that is important. I love her and she’s such a nice person—I don’t know how I know that, but it’s something that I just feel that she gives off. She’s a really great artist.”

The gallery space where customers waited before entering the actual pop-up store projected short videos of models and Rihanna herself.

The pop-up had limited numbers of each item on the floor, but you could ask sales associates for more sizes.