Rihanna is a pioneer in many aspects. I mean, how many other singer/ actress/ country ambassador/ business owners can you name? She has broken boundaries in her careers year after year, inspiring younger generations of black women across the world. Her latest accomplishment: elevating her self-titled clothing brand to the world of high fashion.

It was in the fall of 2015 that Rihanna first released her fashion collaboration, Puma x Fenty, establishing herself as a designer. Since then, we have seen the Fenty brand grow significantly. More Puma x Fenty launches followed and were even featured in Paris and New York Fashion Weeks, she launched her Savage x Fenty lingerie line, and even founded the Fenty Beauty makeup brand. Annika Chrobak-Prince’19, a student her at Whitney Young expressed “Rihanna is building an empire. Fenty may be a household name at this point.” But there is something especially significant about Rihanna’s latest accomplishment.

Earlier this month, LVHM, a luxury goods company, announced that they would be opening a fashion house in paris for Rihanna’s clothing brand, Fenty, making her the very first black woman to head a high end fashion brand. This came as a shock to me, considering black culture- and black women in particular- influence so much of what society considers “trendy.” Rihanna commented on her own accomplishment in an interview with New York Times Magazine journalist, Jeremy O. Harris saying “I didn’t even know that [I was the first black woman to do this] until months into our relationship.” She says that she had members of her team research to verify that this was true, and even then she says ”I still couldn’t believe it. It made me feel proud.”

Leave it to Rihanna to keep opening doors for women and the black community! Whitney Young student, Julian Green’19 says “I’m so proud of Rihanna for making history, but I’m still going to need some new music this year.” I think that’s a statement we can all agree with