We’re all excited about the relaunch of Baby Phat, but Rihanna took it to another level.
Baby Phat founder Kimora Lee Simmons was featured in a profile by The Cut and revealed Rih Rih owns the entire Baby Phat archive.
So do we class rihanna as a model? bc she fuckn well could be. ???????? pic.twitter.com/fiXqyMnj7R
— fentzyy (@fentzyy) January 11, 2019
“The vintage purveyor and fashion historian, Gabriel Held, reports selling his entire archive of the brand to Rihanna last year,” author Allison P. Davis wrote.
Held confirmed the exchange to Page Six. The “We Found Love” singer found out about Held’s collection while they were working together, and she offered to purchase everything he had.
Simmons announced Baby Phat’s comeback on International Women’s Day in March, as Blavity previously reported. She later collaborated with Forever 21 for the brand’s official relaunch.
“It’s perfect timing for this,” Simmons said in March. “Over the past several years, we realized the brand resonates with people and lives deep in their souls.”
When the pilot collection dropped in June, it was sold out within a day.
Simmons was touched by the positive response to the line’s launch.
“It’s so fulfilling to see one generation squealing with nostalgia at the news of our relaunch, and another discovering the brand for the first time,” she told Page Six in June. “I’m heartened that the original aesthetic found its wait into the zeitgeist. That’s affirmation for me and a whole community of women who were underserved by fashion the first time around.”
The brand’s place in fashion history is summed up by its logo.
“A whole generation of girls love the logo for what they know the brand stood for,” Simmons added. “Even though they weren’t old enough to wear it at the time.”
