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By Darralynn Hutson
The new Savage X Fenty store on Woodward Avenue in Downtown Detroit is a little like the African-culture wing of the Detroit Institute of Arts, only instead of brown-hued skinned tones, it’s full of curvy silver mannequins striking thirst-trap poses in silk panties and thigh-hugging lace stockings. On the store’s opening day — the second Black and female-owned brick-and-mortar location on the infamous Avenue that connects Detroit’s east to west — I found myself staring enthusiastically at an entire wall of lifelike body parts, which serves as a focal point behind the cash registers. The closest form to my body type was the booty-tooting full back side modeling a black-colored thong that stretched across her perfect rear end like a glove. A smaller rear end floated right under her, fixed in leopard.
The butt looked gorgeous but very real as if I’d seen it before. The silver-coated wall-affixed mannequins are actual Savage X Fenty models who represent all shapes and sizes; same as the bra sizes available at the Detroit store which run from 32A to 40F; panties come in sizes extra-small to 3X. And let’s not forget the male mannequins who remind me of 50 Cent’s Get Rich or Die Tryin’ if his gut hung ever his pants and he had on wine-red silk boxers.
“I absolutely LOVED the full figured body mannequins on the walls. We live in a world where society is trying to push the narrative of one body shape and RIRI said forget that! And I love her for that!”said a customer named Diamond Hunt. “I am a BIG Rihanna fan! I am so happy we got a Savage X Fenty location in Detroit.” The content creator was on her lunch break and, like most of the other shoppers, stood in line for an hour to shop with one of her favorite brands owned by style icon Rihanna, aka Robyn Fenty, who founded Savage in 2018. Black owned business owner and neighbor, Latrice Wooden, Founder of ABlackOwnedBrand arrived at 9:00 a.m., an hour before the official store opening, to make sure the crowd understood the importance of Black ownership and why Savage X Fenty’s store opening was pivotal to Detroit. “We have two Black owned businesses right here on Woodward Avenue and what better opportunity to come out here and further support these businesses to get people excited about what we have going on here in Detroit.”
In keeping with Rihanna’s creativity, the Detroit store is designed to look and feel more like an art gallery than a retail store, with metallic framing of moving and flat images, creating a mood that’s somewhere between their New York townhouse and the video for “Love on the Brain.”
“Through accessbility and convenience, we want to ensure that Savage X Fenty’s customers can shop and explore the brand on their own terms,” said Savage X Fenty, CMO Vannessa Wallace. “With our new store, we hope to reach all of Detroit and provide more opportunities to engage with our products firsthand.”
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