Anna Wintour says Rihanna and A$AP Rocky are fashion's most influential couple. This is why

Telegraph

01-04-2025

The (fashion) queen has spoken. Dame Anna Wintour, the long-time editor-in-chief of American Vogue, has decreed that the pop star Rihanna and her boyfriend of five years, rapper A$AP Rocky, are the most influential celebrity couple when it comes to fashion. Speaking to Entertainment Tonigh t, she waxed lyrical about the twosome, saying, 'They're very talented, they're very brilliant, I think they have wonderful values, and they have an enormous amount of style.'
While you might know who Rihanna is (and remember the wet summer when her single Umbrella topped the charts for 10 weeks during a particularly extreme case of pathetic fallacy), her partner and father of her two children, Rza and Riot, might be less familiar to you. But much like his girlfriend, A$AP Rocky (real name Rakim Athelaston Mayers) is renowned for being one of the most influential and stylish musicians of his generation, whose every sartorial move is followed closely by fans.
Case in point: Rocky is one of a handful of men who Wintour has chosen to help her pull off this year's Met Gala, the annual soirée which takes place at New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art to fête the Costume Institute's upcoming exhibition. Taking on the theme of 'Superfine: Tailoring Black Style', Rocky was an obvious choice for the role (his fellow co-chairs include F1 driver Lewis Hamilton, musician and Louis Vuitton designer Pharrell Williams and actor Colman Domingo), with the showcase and gala celebrating, in Vogue's words, 'the importance of clothing and style to the formation of black identities in the Atlantic diaspora'.
Since they first got together in 2020, Rocky and Rihanna have amplified each other's star appeal, not least because of their shared passion for fashion. After all, there's nothing the industry loves more than his-and-hers style, especially when it's provocative and cutting-edge (rather than, say… Canadian tuxedos à la Justin Timberlake and Britney Spears, circa 2001). And actually, what's so refreshing about Rihanna and Rocky is that they don't always go for a matchy-matchy vibe, instead allowing each other's individual styles to shine through.
Bursting onto the music scene with her debut single Pon de Replay back in 2005, Rihanna really became a fashion darling in the 2010s, most notably with a series of viral looks worn to the Met Gala. Two standouts include her 2014 naked dress by Stella McCartney, which ushered in an era of bold sheer styles, plus her much-referenced 2015 Guo Pei gown with its canary-yellow hue and logic-defying train. She's redefined pregnancy dressing, proudly showcasing her bare bump (whether it's a midriff-baring crop top or a sheer Alaïa gown), and even makes an effort to be photographed in head-to-toe designer looks on date night with Rocky (see: last year's red Comme des Garçons moment in New York).
And while she's been on hiatus from her music for the best part of a decade (rumours of a new album crop up every now and then), Rihanna is also known today as a businesswoman. In fact, her Fenty beauty brand is widely regarded as one of the most successful celebrity-backed brands ever, changing the way the industry thought about the availability of make-up in different skin tones (something she followed up with her Savage x Fenty lingerie line, which started with inclusive nude underwear).
She even briefly dipped her toe into the world of high fashion design, becoming the first black woman to own a fashion brand at the prestigious luxury conglomerate LVMH (fellow brands in its stable include Dior, Celine and Givenchy), though that shuttered in 2021.
Rock,y meanwhile, has won fashion plaudits of his own. Since 2014, he's been dubbed the best-dressed man in hip hop, regularly seen wearing Gucci, Balenciaga and Loewe, and often taking sartorial risks (triple denim, anyone?). He's fronted campaigns for Bottega Veneta, sat front row at Miu Miu, and last summer launched a collection at Paris Fashion Week, dubbed 'American Sabotage'.
According to talent agent Dan Comrie, who has worked on music and fashion partnerships at agencies including Keep, Elite Model Management and Next, it's the fact that their lives are so intertwined with one another that makes them particularly influential. 'Rihanna is barely seen without her husband and children, and since her first pregnancy they've been committed to displaying a unified front and a refreshingly normal view of family life, from Christmas card pictures to hanging out going for dinner,' he explains. 'Her attendance at [Rocky's] recent court case solidified them as fashion's most fashionable family in music but also showed something very real about them.'
Their shared interest in cutting-edge fashion has also cemented them as a couple to watch. 'Rihanna and [Rocky] have constantly been adopters of new designers at a very early stage, showing their credibility as fashion icons and an understanding around the necessity to support new designers,' adds Comrie. 'Together they created distinct templates around genuine street culture – not empty streetwear tropes – which became global.'