Savage X Fenty ,Valued at $1 Billion, Is Poised To Rival Victoria's Secret and Win

When LVMH and Rihanna agreed to hit ‘pause’ — perhaps a very long pause — on Fenty, it only confirmed the reality that even Rihanna cannot gear up a global luxury brand of fashion clothes during a pandemic. Vanessa Friedman and the New York Times explained the ‘situation’, as both parties — LVMH and Rihanna agreed that the decision was a joint one.

The brand is not officially closed and Rihanna remains part of LVMH. Friedman pursue the analysis as a reminder “that just because someone has an enormous cultural following and no-holds-barred taste, it does not mean they will make great, original clothes..”

AOC’s interest is the $115 million fundraising round for Savage x Fenty by L Catterton, a private equity firm connected to LVMH. We reported in December that the partnership both put swimwear brand Seafolly into administration in Australia in June 2020 and then bought it back again at an attractive price near year’s end. This new round of fundraising resulted in Savage’s valuation exceeding $1 billion, wrote Fast Company.

Savage x Fenty is poised to

I hadn’t read any projections that Rihanna’s Savage x Fenty lingerie and beauty brands could exceed the struggling Victoria’s Secret brand. But the thought has crossed my mind more than once — and noted on AOC. Savage x Fenty just wiped the Victoria’s Secret floor with their recent Valentine’s Day campaign, leaving VS to look like a rudderless ship that’s turning in circles.

If Victoria’s Secret didn’t have their For Love & Lemons collab, the brand would visually appear to be even more adrift. (Note, that Anne (me) was the fashion director and head of product development for Victoria’s Secret during the glory years. I resigned over the increasing brand positioning differences between myself and Ed Razek, and our abandoning our relationship with women to give the brand to guys.

Rihanna and I share the view that women should control our sexuality on our own terms. And that includes a sexual mindset that is hotter than Hades. “She’s unapologetic,” says Savage co-president Christiane Pendarvis. “What she does is for herself and not for someone else. That’s what we try to embody at Savage: Giving that power and control back to all women.”

Pendarvis was VP of Merchanding at Victoria’s Secret from 2004 to 2008. That’s a short run, so Pendarvis may have had her own ‘issues’ with the growing boys club at VS. And while I cannot state that I ever imagined taking Rihanna’s approach to coverying every body out there in the lingerie of her choice, I definitely fought to expand our range of sizing into the mainstream of American women.

One thing is clear — besides the brilliance of Rihanna’s merchandising instincts — and that of her team. Rihanna has access to big money and important relationships. With her commitment to Amazon — avoided by so many upscale brands — Rihanna could pitch Jeff Bezos for an investment. And when Bernanrd Arnault is in your corner and you deliver results, money is not a problem.

As the mogul moves to build lingerie stores, her full-frontal confrontation with Victoria’s Secret will become even more overt. After spending some time pursuing the question as to whether or not Savage x Fenty could become bigger than Victoria’s Secret, the answer appears to be a definitive ‘yes’.

To put it as plainly as I can, it would be such ‘Just Desserts’ for VS — and delivered by a black woman, no less. I love it. ~ Anne

How New Voters and Black Women Transformed Georgia's Politics

How New Voters and Black Women Transformed Georgia's Politics AOC Blackness

On Jan. 5, Georgians chose a Black pastor and a 33-year-old son of Jewish immigrants – Democrats Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff – to represent them in the Senate. They also elected Democrat Joe Biden for president in November.

Georgia’s turn from blood red to deep purple gave Democrats their slender majority in the Senate, surprising Americans on both sides of the aisle. This historic moment was a long time coming.

The elections of Biden, Warnock and Ossoff are the culmination of a years long tug of war among the members of Georgia’s racially, ethnically and ideologically diverse electorate.

Georgia’s demographics are changing fast. In 2019, it was ranked fifth among U.S. states experiencing an influx of newcomers. According to census data, 284,541 residents arrived from out of state that year.

Many of Georgia’s newest voters come from groups that lean Democratic: minorities, young people, unmarried women. Between 2000 and 2019, Georgia’s Black population increased by 48%, mostly because people moved there from out of state. African Americans now make up 30% of Georgia’s population. The Latino population increased by 14% since 2000, and Latinos now comprise 9% of Georgians.

Meanwhile, Georgia’s white population declined slightly, from 57% in 2010 to 54% in 2019. Non-Latino whites are projected to be a numerical minority in Georgia within the next decade.

Just 30% of white Georgia voters chose Warnock and Ossoff on Jan. 5. But the pair, who often campaigned together, both won about 90% of the Black vote and about half of Latinos. Two-thirds of Asian Americans – a small but fast-growing electoral force in Georgia – voted for Ossoff, Warnock and Biden, exit data shows.

The New South

The elections of Biden, Warnock and Ossoff are the culmination of a years long tug of war among the members of Georgia’s racially, ethnically and ideologically diverse electorate. Five decades ago, the state of Georgia was a very different atmosphere for people of color.

In July 1964, Georgia restaurateur Lester Maddox violated the newly passed Civil Rights Act by refusing to serve three Black Georgia Tech students at his Pickrick Restaurant in Atlanta. Although this new federal law banned discrimination in public places, Maddox was determined to maintain a whites-only dining room, arming white customers with pick handles – which he called “Pickrick drumsticks” – to threaten Black customers who tried to dine there.

Endorsed by the Ku Klux Klan in his successful 1974 bid for the governorship, Maddox was once called “the South’s most racist governor.” But hostile treatment of minorities has often been Georgia’s chosen style of politics.

Read on in AOC Blackness: How New Voters and Black Women Transformed Georgia's Politics