By Amy Lawrenson
In pictures I always thought Rihanna looked like an eighties supermodel - tall and strong. But in the flesh she's still tall yes, but more petite than you would expect.
When I spied her at about 7.30pm last night at The Old Sorting Office (a rundown warehouse in central London) across the bustling backstage area she was busy talking a camera crew through her collection for River Island. Bubbly and chatty, she was bopping along to the show music that was being sound-checked front of house. She wore baggy plaid trousers, heels and her long hair flowing out from under a baseball cap. While she may have changed to take her bow in front of London's fashion elite, the vampy burgandy red power lip she wore backstage remained.
The models' look was inspired by the lady herself. 'Ruby Woo, Ruby Woo!' exclaimed make-up artist Sam Bryant when I asked about the look for the show. 'I got the models to apply the MAC product themselves straight out of the lipstick, no brush. I wanted a really hard, strong lip'.
Skin was super moisturised and highlighted and each model had either a strong brow or ramped-up lashes. 'These are the coolest girls in the gang' she added.
Manicurist Sophy Robson was inspired by a red dress from the collection when creating the nail look. 'When I saw images of the collection it was the red dress that really popped off the page,' she told me. 'To get that red I mixed a red MAC polish in Flaming Rose with fluoro pink pigment'.
'Rihanna is the biggest style icon we've had in years,' Robson told me and I'm inclined to agree.
