Rihanna’s Louis Vuitton Soccer Ball Bag Is a Piece of ’90s History
Rihanna just added another layer of meaning to the phrase “ball is life.”
How’d she accomplish such a feat? By making football—or soccer, whichever you prefer to call it—chic when she carried a monogrammed Louis Vuitton soccer ball bag to the UEFA Champions League group D match between Juventus (Cristiano Ronaldo‘s team) and Atletico Madrid in Turin, Italy on Tuesday.
The bag is actually a limited edition collector’s item, and was initially created by the luxury retailer for the 1998 World Cup that took place in France. Louis Vuitton has partnered with FIFA since 2010, when they created the solid gold monogrammed LV travel case for the World Cup trophy in South Africa. The two brands have created licensed goods together for various soccer tournaments including the 2018 World Cup in Russia, for which Louis Vuitton made a collection of licensed FIFA leather goods that included luggage tags and a “made-to-order” keepall that could be customized with nearly any national flag.
Rihanna’s World Cup soccer ball bag not only comes with a leather shoulder strap, it is actually inflatable too—the piece comes with a tip for blowing air into it like an actual soccer ball you could theoretically kick around, except you probably wouldn’t want to do that with a vintage collector’s item like this one if given the opportunity.
The singer and beauty-slash-fashion mogul was also given a personalized Juventus football shirt with her nickname “RiRi” stitched on the back, as well as the number 20 (probably in honor of her birthday, which is February 20).
Usually we have to wait to see celebrities out and about with their World Cup gear every four years, but leave it to Rihanna to bring back a piece of late ’90s soccer history on a random Tuesday evening.
Related: Rihanna Wore a Vintage John Galliano Kimono at the Queen & Slim Premiere