FYI.

This story is over 5 years old.

Music

This Week in Music and Fashion: Beyoncé, Kanye, Rihanna, Miley and More

WELCOME BACK BADGALRIRI.

When it rains it pours, at least in the collaboration world. After a dud of a week, this one brought fashion news from a handful of heavyweight artists—and, let me not bury the lede, THE RETURN OF @BADGALRIRI. Welcome back Instagram Queen, we've missed you so much.

BEYONCE X TOPSHOP

Is 2014 the year of musicians getting into the active wear game? It sure feels like it. First there was Kanye and Nike, then there was Kanye and Adidas and Pharrell and Adidas, and now Beyoncé is partnering with Topshop for her own workout clothes brand. There will be Bey-approved performance clothes for dance, fitness, and sports, along with accessories and gear. It's yet another chapter in the singer's ongoing affair with the UK retailer, who's provided her with matching separate outfits for years, and even flew her out to meet with them on a private jet, earlier this year. Which is to say, there's really nothing surprising about it. Aside from the fact that most people in the world want to look like Beyoncé (and would therefore buy anything that's vaguely linked to her fitness routine), it's a really smart move for Bey to invest in the expanding world of active wear, a marketplace that's exploded over the past five years. There's also the fact that active clothing is also universal for all body sizes and lifestyles and often comes at a more affordable price tag than ready to wear.

Advertisement

RITA ORA X ADIDAS

Rita Ora for Adidas is another active wear collaboration you can add to that expanding list. This week brought the second installment of her collection which straddles the line between workout and street clothes, in the best way possible. I've never cared as much for Rita's music but her taste in clothes has all of my attention, if only because it's never dull (remember that leather sports bra she made for her first Adidas installment?) Her follow-up takes influence from two very different things, street art and insect invasions, and it all looks like fun pieces you'd actually wear to the gym or to run errands in. It's a good thing that she nailed it too, because while Rita was having a good week in fashion, she couldn't say the same of her music. After her botched plan to drop a new single if she got 100,000 RTs (she only got 2000), it seems all the more clear to me that Rita should stick to design and being a fashion personality.

IGGY AZALEA X STEVE MADDEN

Iggy Azalea on the other hand, should stick with music—not that I endore her songs either but they're at least a lot more successful than her first stab at designing shoes for Steve Madden. Iggy payed homage to her Miami formative years, combining satin and rhinestones with a lug soled platform. I'm not entirely sure where someone would wear these. The sole says hiking, the satin says prom, and the rhinestones say Forever 21 sales rack—the very definition of an identity crisis.

KANYE WEST'S BINDER

Yeezy season approaching, for real. Kanye West isn't just readying his next album, he's also at work on a collection—and it might be for DONDA line, in addition to the one he's preparing for Adidas. This week, Theophilus London tweeted, and quickly removed, a picture of Kanye with the caption "Mr. West hard at work today. #allday." That might sound innocuous but at the foreground of the photo was a binder titled "YEEZY FABRICS." Those cap-locks don't even do it justice. What could be inside? I hope we don't have to wait long to find out.

Advertisement

MILEY X MAC

After walking the runway at Jeremy Scott in her glue gun-crafted jewels, Miley Cyrus is getting deeper into fashion, this time partnering up with the makeup brand MAC. Miley has been dubbed the 2015 spokesperson for their Viva Glam line and she's collaborated with them on two products, a hot pink lipstick and a shimmery gloss. It seems like Miley's "dirty hippie" days are behind her.

RIHANNA'S ROGUE SCENT AND RETURN TO INSTAGRAM

Rihanna celebrated the release of her first men's scent, Rogue, this week by telling reporters what everyone already knew: that her fragrance is like an aphrodesiac. But, even better, today the Queen returned to us on her favorite social media platform, Instagram. It's been six long months without her in our feeds—she was kicked off after sharing photos from her topless shoot for Lui Magazine—but we can finally stop mourning, and unfollow the 100 fan accounts we followed in her absence, because Bad Gal is back.

Marissa G. Muller does this every week. She's on Twitter.