Rihanna's Savage X Fenty to Open First L.A. Store at Westfield Culver city
by Nina Aghadjanian
Must be lingerie on the brain because innerwear brand Savage X Fenty is set to open its inaugural Los Angeles store at the Westfield Culver City mall on Saturday, February 12.
Founder Rihanna, whose full name is Robyn Rihanna Fenty, recently announced the news on Twitter that Savage X Fenty is debuting brick-and-mortar retail stores in Las Vegas, L.A., Houston, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. Just in time for Valentine's Day too.
Savage X Fenty's first location opened in Paradise, Nevada's Fashion Show Las Vegas Mall on Saturday, January 22. Rihanna conceptualized the Sin City store's futuristic, coquettish interior with the help of O'Neil Langan Architects, creative firm PlayLab, and visual artist Jed Skrzypczak.
Neon pinks and purples set the seductive vibe for the line's sexy silhouettes to shine on the walls, while proprietary chrome and lavender, body-positive mannequins dressed in lingerie in the display windows provide a taste of what's in store. Some of the mannequins were produced using 3D scans of Savage X Fenty models – further promoting the brand's core principle of body positivity. Rich sapphire, emerald, and fuchsia lights illuminate parts of the store and each of the five rooms – entitled Ripple, Logo, Swirl, Video, and Evergreen – has a different feel and features a different collection.
The highly Instagrammable Vegas location embedded interactive experiences and photo opps into the layout of each room. Savage X Fenty's chief merchant and co-president Christine Pendarvis told Vogue, "We're not necessarily known as a technology brand, but we're taking this opportunity to really merge physical and digital in a way that we just haven't seen done in the mall."
Catapulting its first retail location into the future, Savage X Fenty brought in Fit:Match's Fit Xperience – a body scanning program that allows you to 3D scan your body using a LiDAR-powered smartphone and provides recommendations on which products best suit your body type and size. The store also will feature fitting rooms equipped with digital kiosks for price checking and product browsing. Let's hope L.A.'s location will be up to par.
"The store tells a story and is highly focused on a true experience. Every detail was curated carefully to immerse people in the brand and elevate the consumer experience, while being playful, welcoming, and fun. We wanted to be able to connect with our customers in real life and give them something they've never seen before. Creating the space took a lot of imagination, married with things I've always wanted to change about my own experiences as a consumer myself," Rihanna said.
Rihanna, in partnership with TechStyle Fashion Group, launched Savage X Fenty in 2018 with an online store and pop-up in Brooklyn. Using nothing more than Rihanna's and the label's own Instagram account to market the line, the entire debut collection sold out within a month.
With a distinctly body-positive and inclusive focus, its designs attract all genders, sizes, and backgrounds – hence its explosive popularity. Along with lingerie, Savage X Fenty sells loungewear, bras, underwear, and sleepwear. It offers an optional membership program called Xtra VIP that gives shoppers early access to product releases, exclusive discounts, and limited edition boxes curated by RiRi herself. Today, Savage X Fenty has grown to over 450 million social media followers and a $1 billion valuation, according to Forbes.
Most recently, Madonna's 25-year-old daughter Lourdes landed a Savage X Fenty Valentine's Day campaign. Indigenous model and self-proclaimed climate warrior Quannah Chasinghorse also appeared in the campaign.
Other notable Savage X Ambassadors include Gigi Hadid, Bella Hadid, Normani, Kehlani, and influencer Tamera McLaughlin, the brand's first little person ambassador.
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