Fashion rules are made to be broken, Rihanna told a glittering crowd of fashion industry leaders on Monday, and her outfit dramatically conveyed that message: a sheer fishnet gown, sparkling with thousands of embedded crystals, that left little underneath to the imagination.
The singer cemented her role as a fashion luminary by receiving the 2014 Fashion Icon Award from the Council of Fashion Designers of America. Her trophy was presented by Anna Wintour, the powerful Vogue editor, who said that with Rihanna, “the point is to be audacious — even jaw-dropping or button-pushing.”
Accepting the award, Rihanna spoke of her origins in Barbados, where “I didn’t have a lot of access to fashion.” But, she said: “Fashion has always been my defense mechanism.” Even as a child, she told the crowd, she used to think: “She can beat me, but she can’t beat my outfit.”
“I can compensate for all my weaknesses with my fashion,” she said, adding: “There are rules, but rules are meant to be broken.”
