3 Instantly Iconic Pride Collections from Cher, Rihanna and Balenciaga
Savage x Pride
Rihanna, who knows her way around a bold fashion statement, has unveiled her second Pride collection for her lingerie brand Savage x Fenty.
As expected, the 2022 version bursts with multicolor rainbow prints, bras and bodysuits with strategically placed cutouts, heaps of rhinestones, lace, and fishnet. Plus the occasional le smoking (that’s a jacket) for those times a more sophisticated look is called for. But here’s what you prolly didn’t expect — sex-positive accessories! Think jockstraps, garter belts, whips, and other gear to spice up your after-dark proclivities.
The campaign features a smorgasbord of queer models. They include Honey Balenciaga from Legendary , Fire Island star Tomás Matos, and RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Plastique Tiara, who trades in plastique for dramatique in a transformation slay on Savage x Fenty’s Instagram .
Savage x Fenty, a brand launched in 2018 and built on diversity and inclusion, is poised to go public as early as this year with an IPO valued at $3 billion. Kerching! Therefore, we expect the promised donation to GLAAD and For The Gworls — a Black trans-led collective providing help with affirmative surgery — to be very generous.
Eschewing doll-like sizing, the new Savage x Pride collection comes in sizes spanning XS to XXXL. It also falls within an affordable price range of $16.95 to $69.95 at the brand’s website or its physical shops.
Chersace
First, there was Fendace — a partnership between Fendi and Versace. Now comes Chersace — a fashion portmanteau for the ages!
Chersace is exactly what it sounds like, an equal collab between Cher and Donatella Versace, who’ve merged their towering diva statuses for the first time on the occasion of Pride 2022.
A rainbow-tinted Chersace logo and Versace’s Medusa head signature are joined to create the graphic centerpiece, which is splashed across tees, socks and a baseball cap. What you need to know is those socks are $125, the cap is $395 and the tees, available in regular print or diamante-encrusted, will set you back $425 and $3,350, respectively.
So yeah, there’s that. But remember, Pride collections are about giving back. What happy customers get for their coinage, besides a slice of gay-icon heaven, is a donation to Gender Spectrum, a charity Cher and Donatella picked out for its commitment to the well-being of gender-diverse children and teens.
Balenciaga
Demna Gvasalia’s first Pride collection for Balenciaga in 2021 was a typically festive affair, a capsule of pink hoodies and T-shirts emblazoned with the word GAY. It was a welcome departure for a French luxury house to embrace the queer community.
This year, it goes even further. Called ‘Anybody Is Queer,’ the collection features a range of hoodies, T-shirts, and tank tops boasting a remixed version of the gender-specific figures traditionally found on women’s and men’s bathroom doors. One in a skirt and the other in pants, the figures are merged into one gender-fluid graphic with an unambiguous message of support for the global LGBTQ community.
Balenciaga says 15% of profits from its Pride collection will benefit OutRight Action International , an organization that works to advance human rights for LGBTQIA+ people around the world. The group was granted consultive status with the United Nations in 2010, meaning OutRight can attend UN meetings and access records to better serve to the global queer community.
