POP star Rihanna lost a staggering £27million in a failed fashion venture with Louis Vuitton.
The singer, whose hits include Umbrella, Diamonds and Stay, lodged the losses in the accounts for her British company, Denim UK Holdings.
Rihanna, 37, launched her clothing brand Fenty in collaboration with the fashion house in 2019 — and it was almost immediately impacted by the pandemic.
The Sun understands travel restrictions meant Rihanna could not meet the designers in person or visit the factories making the products.
The mum-of-two initially pumped over £25million of her own cash into the venture, becoming a 49.99 per cent shareholder in the business, Project Loud France.
Louis Vuitton’s parent company LVMH put in an almost identical amount.
Clothes in the range included a £750 denim jacket and a £600 shirt dress.
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The collection was officially unveiled in Paris to a huge fanfare, with fashion bible Vogue dedicating a feature to Rihanna’s designs.
But there were problems from the start.
LVMH’s chief financial officer Jean-Jacques Guion said at the time: “We are still in a launching phase and we have to figure out exactly what is the right offer.
“It is not something that is easy. We were starting entirely from scratch.
“Obviously we have the great help from Rihanna on this, but I would say it’s still a work in progress when it comes to really defining what the offer will be.”
Following the pandemic, the company stalled and closed.
In a joint statement, Rihanna and Louis Vuitton said: “LVMH and Rihanna reaffirm their ambition to concentrate on the growth and the long-term development of the Fenty ecosystem, focusing on cosmetics, skincare and lingerie.”
Despite this business failing, Rihanna’s other ventures — Savage X Fenty lingerie and Fenty Beauty cosmetics — have been hugely successful.
A year after Project Loud France closed, Rihanna made history as America’s youngest self-made female billionaire.
Rihanna is also one of the best-selling female artists of all time, having sold over 250million records worldwide.
She is expected to make a return to music next year, with her hotly anticipated ninth album.
