Rich Mom? Rihanna Is Dabbling in the Rich Grandma Aesthetic

Much has been made of the so-called “rich mom aesthetic.” That is, an internet-driven trend which revolves around images of Kelly Rutherford, Gwyneth Paltrow, Demi Moore, and Gisele Bündchen wearing varying shades of white, camel and beige with iPhones clamped to their hands. These are women with places to go, people to see and parent-teacher associations to run, their four-wheel lifestyles an embodiment of the age-old adage that women can–and should–have it all.

Liberated from the onerous costs of childcare and the chug of domestic labour, the rich mom proves it’s possible to balance life as a glamorous professional and an attentive matriarch dressing for the boardroom, but also the express purpose of gossiping at an U11 soccer match in upstate New York. See: Laura Dern’s character in Big Little Lies. This is a role that Rihanna–a billionaire mother of two, who is currently working towards an Asian expansion of her Fenty Beauty empire–has played on various occasions. (The Dries Van Noten coats, the throw-it-all-in Bottega Veneta clutches.)

But the musician-mogul took the “rich mom aesthetic” to its logical conclusion when she was photographed in Santa Monica last weekend, dressed in a tweed Gucci jacket and wide-legged Bottega Veneta jeans with a diminutive Alaïa handbag and a pair of ladylike Gucci kitten heels. She looked like a “rich grandma”: mostly because of that behemoth crystal brooch, but also because of the honey-blonde pixie cut that she has been debuting since celebrating her 36th in Turks and Caicos. The fact that Rihanna is not, in
those words might mean. Living a slow life of all-inclusive travel, garlanded in heirloom jewels and slipping a handful of twenties into the palm of a hotel busboy should you happen to be in a good mood.