You've seen the sneak peek, now get VOGUE's inside cover story on your favorite I-Make-Ratchet-Look-Sexy chick Rihanna from the March 2014 issue....
Now that Rihanna's full VOGUE cover story is out, there's a few new things we've learned about the 25-going-on-26-year-old. If that's possible. While going from tomboy to utterly sexy to high fashion all in one swoop in her new cover spread, Ri dishes on fashion, weave, and more. Oh, all while zooming around NYC playing a bossy (but super fun) stylist...for the VOGUE writer herself.
She's guarded about her weave, but will reveal it anyway
“It’s not my hair, but the girl who donated it, she’s the bomb,” says Rihanna. “Black girls never let anyone see this,” she adds, pulling apart the locks at the back of her head to show me the intricate workings of the false hair, which is woven into a net attached to her own. “I have two main hair people I work with. They’re always with me. I’m like, ‘I’m bored! I wanna change my hair!’ That’s the good thing about a weave. You can do whatever with it.”
It's not that her 6 inch $6,000 heels don't hurt her, she just knows how to play it off better than most
“It’s not about pain. It’s about the commitment. I say to myself, ‘I want to look like this,’ and worry about the pain later. I’ve had nights I had to tiptoe home and the balls of my feet wouldn’t even allow me to stand.”
She's about that Claire's life, like many of us
“My jewelry’s all fake—from Claire’s. Or I get it from my mom’s boutique in Barbados. Her shop’s called FAB-U-LUS.”
She says she never expected fame--and yes, she did actually practice singing
“I did sing a lot as a child. A lot. I practiced hard to maneuver my voice. I love singing. I love it, and it doesn’t feel like a chore. It’s an expression. I never wanted to be famous. I just wanted my music to be heard all over the world. Then it happened and the fame came with it. I can’t ever imagine feeling used to it.”
Her tomboy/rebel fashion persona is the real her
When I was thirteen or fourteen, I didn’t want to wear what my mom wanted me to wear. I was very much a boy in my style, my demeanor. All my friends were guys. I loved things that boys did. I loved being easy with my clothes. I loved wearing hats and scarves and snapbacks on my head. It was my way of rebelling. I wanted to dress like my brother. After a while, it was just easier for Mom to dress us both the same. We wore the same jeans, the same T-shirts.”
“I don’t go out of my way to be a rebel or to have that perception, but a lot of the decisions I make, a lot of the direction I want to move, is against the grain, or against society’s tight lane, and I’m aware of that sometimes. It might not be fitting with the norm, but that’s OK for me.”
“It all started in dance rehearsal,” she explains. “When you’re on tour, you go to rehearse wearing sweats and sneaks. Then you practice your song in the heels you are going to wear that night. I realized, Wow, that looks cool! I have a friend who is literally searching for cool T-shirts for me all the time because I’m obsessed.”
Her disdain for undergarments is real
“If I’m wearing a top, I don’t wear a bra,” she says. “If I’m wearing a bra, I just wear a bra.”
Her obsession with Instagram is actually just her communicative nature
“Instagram is my way of communicating to the world,” she says. “When I’m on tour, I keep fans in the loop. I don’t really think about it too much. Literally, I can be sitting in a car and be bored, so I do a selfie just because I’m bored. Or if my dog is running around in circles and I think that’s funny, I put it on Instagram.” As for who Rihanna follows on Instagram? “I follow girls from the Middle East. It gives you ideas.”
She knows her fashion game is a huge factor making her the star she is
“It’s not all down to my voice. There’s people with way more talent than I when it comes to singing. Bigger voices. But people want to know who you are. Fashion is a clear indication, a way to express your attitude, your mood.”
Check out the full cover story at VOGUE, where she's ordering her assistants to fetch her makeup from the MAC store, reading & styling the VOGUE writer effortlessly, and more.
Photos: David Sims/VOGUE
