'I think women want freedom, they want to be empowered, they want hope, they want love, they want all the things that I want, and I’m not afraid to say those things and act on them, and I think that’s why they identify with me,’ a 25-year-old Rihanna told ELLE UK for her April 2013 cover story. Her interview with veteran music journalist Mark Ellen famously took place in a Paris hotel bar between 2 and 3am.
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Rihanna was at her chart-topping peak, having sold nearly 4 million records in the UK the year the issue hit newsstands. And, that very same month, she began her 96-date Diamonds tour.
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As ELLE’s fashion director, it was Anne-Marie Curtis’ job to style the cover and choose the looks. They would be pulled from the best of the spring/summer 2013 collections– from Louis Vuitton (pictured above), then led by creative director Marc Jacobs, to Prada – all of which had a Sixties flair that matched Rihanna’s new jet-black pixie crop. ‘The cut ended up defining what we did with her, as it felt so fresh,’ Curtis recalls. ‘We leant into that mood and kept the shoot graphic, just working with black and white clothing.’
ELLE UK and Mariano Vivanco, the London-based, Peruvian photographer, decamped to a Montparnasse loft in Paris. Vivanco’s moodboard featured mid-century icons Edie Sedgwick and Twiggy, to encourage the subject to embrace a gamine mood.
‘As soon as she walked into the room, the energy [she gave off] made her mesmerising,’ says Curtis. ‘She truly is so unbelievably beautiful in real life. We were all under a spell from the minute we saw her. She had a freedom in her body and was very relaxed.’
Of the many notable women Curtis has styled for our covers, this was her favourite. ‘Rihanna has a really powerful energy, yet at the same time there is a softness, which makes her lovable. It’s not a word I’d necessarily use for such an A-lister, but she really is.’
In her interview, Rihanna ponders this idea of multifacetedness.‘Women want to be fearless, and sometimes all it takes is to see that it’s possible. Once you see it can be done, you think, “I could do it, too.” That’s all I could ever hope for – to have a positive effect on women. Cause women are powerful, powerful beings. But they’re also the most doubtful beings. They’ll never know – we’ll never know – how powerful we are.’
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