Rihanna’s Grand (and Golden) Return to Dior

Rihanna may not have given us music in almost a decade, but she always keeps us fed in the beauty department. It makes sense for the superstar who is dubbed to be the “best-smelling celebrity” (and as someone who has smelled her, I can confirm it’s true), which is why it’s so fitting that for her latest beauty move, she’s the newest face of Dior Beauty’s fragrance, J’adore.

You might remember the ads from 1999 when supermodel Carmen Kass was the face of the perfume, or — for the past two decades — actress Charlize Theron. So this moment isn’t only a big deal for the fragrance but also for the French house. Almost a decade ago, Rihanna was the first Black woman to front a Dior ad. The 2015 campaign was shot at Versailles by photographer and friend of Rihanna Steven Klein. The duo returned to their roots for a full-circle moment for the new J’adore campaign.

Rihanna’s distinctive voice singing “Love on the Brain” opens the campaign video, followed by her walking through the golden gates of Versailles wearing the Dior look she wore to their Haute Couture SS24 show earlier this year — a black embroidered pencil skirt, matching peplum jacket, a hat, black shades, and of course, a lady Dior bag in hand, later replaced by a J’adore bottle.

In the next portion of the video, she is wearing a sequin corset dress made by Maria Grazia Churi and glistening pearls on her neck and up her arm, an ode to her beloved archival pearls from John Galliiano’s 2007 couture Dior collection.

The scent, no matter how many different iterations, remains a staple, especially for Rihanna. Rih’s mom, Monica Braithwaite, worked in a perfume shop and the singer recollected her memories of those days in a Vogue interview. “She used to always bring home the J’adore testers when they were almost empty, so there was always a bottle in the house,” she said. “I have always loved this perfume.” The new iteration of J’adore, L’Or de J’adore, made by famed perfumer Francis Kurkdjian, who joined the French house in 2021, is a blend of orange-blossom absolute, jasmine, and centifolia-rose absolute. (Which also comes in a hand cream, a shower gel, and a lightweight hydrating body milk.)