Rihanna See-Through Dress Designer Talks 'Scandalous' Outfit Decision
Rihanna showed up to the CFDA awards in little more than Swarvoski crystals, and now the designer Adam Selman is revealing how the idea for her outfit came about.
Selman created a racer back see-through dress covered in 230,000 Swarvoski crystals for the 26-year-old Barbadian pop star to accept the 2014 Fashion Icon Award. While Rihanna's entire top half and most of her bottom were fully exposed in the dress, Selman explained the inspiration behind creating the design to Style.com.
"We definitely wanted to make it a little bit scandalous. The dress is just fishnet and crystals and a couple of fingers crossed," Selman told Style.com "I did this look for her so she'd have a good time. This was the perfect night to do something fun, and I wanted her to have something great that you couldn't find anywhere else in the world."
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Rihanna's stylist, Mel Ottenberg, admitted he was not shocked with the singer's choice to wear the fishnet and crystal outfit.
"It's so naked. I don't know if it's shocking -- I'm with her all the time, so my shock gauge is off, but I told her that I thought she was ready for this dress a while ago, and that I wasn't," Ottenberg admitted to Style.com. "I'm the prude, and I'm just catching up."
Selman revealed that the idea came about while styling Rihanna for the MTV Movie Awards last month and that the singer contributed the idea to create the headpiece that she wore.
"We started talking about it, and I sketched it shortly after. In fact, the matching do-rag was all Rih's idea," Selman told Style.com. "It brings such a Rihanna feel to the whole thing. It seals the deal."
After being introduced by Vogue magazine editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, the singer who is no stranger to controversy revealed how she uses fashion as a defense mechanism.
"Growing up I didn't have a lot of access to fashion. But as far as I could remember, fashion has always been my defense mechanism," Rihanna said while accepting her fashion icon award. "Even as a child I remember thinking, 'She can beat me, but she cannot beat my outfit.' And to this day, I mean, that is how I think about it."
While Rihanna acknowledged that there are rules in the fashion world she said, "rules are meant to be broken."
