Rihanna Is a Mom on the Go in Latest Louis Vuitton Campaign

On June 15, an enormous photograph of a pregnant Rihanna wielding armfuls of colorful Louis Vuitton Speedy bags and a coffee cup in her right hand unfurled onto the face of the Musée D’Orsay in Paris. Pharrell Williams—who showed his first presentation as the fashion house’s new creative director for men’s on June 20—teased the image of the Bad Gal on the morning of his runway debut. Little did the public know, that image was just one of an entire campaign starring Rihanna for the new, reimagined Speedy (which Williams made a centerpiece and recurring motif from his premiere spring 2024 collection).

The ads feature Rihanna and her pregnancy bump, highlighted by a pixelated-and-Damier-printed button-down shirt—another central theme from Williams’s first outing for LV. Photographed by Keizō Kitajima and Martine Syms and styled by Cynthia Lu and Matthew Henson, the images and accompanying video show Rihanna running around the city at night, laden down with colorful leather Speedy duffels and handbags.

According to Vuitton, the revitalized Speedy style—a silhouette that came to prominence especially among the early 2000s “It” girls—is this time around “informed by the cosmopolitan nucleus that inspired Pharrell Williams’s early education in luxury: Canal Street on Lower Manhattan, New York City; a cultural axis invigorated by a diverse energy and hustle mentality.” Interestingly enough, the Speedy is one of the first bags Williams ever owned. Only now, it’s being modeled by his friend and frequent collaborator Rihanna, who, in Louis Vuitton’s words, is “an everyday icon...for every walk of life.”