Last night Rihanna was honoured in a ceremony at New York’s Parsons School of Design for her incredibly positive contribution to fashion and ongoing philanthropic work in the field. Fittingly, Rihanna wore an oversized beige suit by an upcoming designer, former Parsons student and past collaborator Matthew Dolan, as she delivered an inspired speech about the importance of young designers and fashion students in the industry.
Standing in front of the audience she told those gathered that she didn’t think they were “celebrated enough.” She went on to emphasise that the students should be recognised for “every aspect of your growth and your growing pains. You should be celebrated for your creativity, for your fearlessness, for your persistence and determination. You should be celebrated for all the effort that you put into building your future, for being different, for not being given enough credit—for not having to use eye cream! My point is, we often tear our youth down when we should be building them up. At the end of the day, our future is in your hands.”
At the event, she and Donna Karan also announced the winners of a Fellowship Program in conjunction with Rihanna’s Clara Lionel Foundation and Karan’s Urban Zen Foundation which will see the successful students travel to Haiti to work with local designers on a fashion line.
A post shared by Rihanna’s my muse. (@rihspire) on May 22, 2017 at 9:35pm PDT