Rihanna Becomes La Reine for 72 Summer 2026
Rihanna enters her royal portrait era for the Summer 2026 issue of 72, transforming couture, sculptural hair and painterly illusion into one majestic fashion story.
Photographed by the brilliant Szilveszter Makó and styled by Edward Enninful, the editorial explores transformation through portraits that hover somewhere between surrealism, classical painting and fashion fantasy.
Enninful titled the story La Reine—the queen—and built its visual foundation around historical portraits of Black royalty, power, beauty, dignity and authority.
The collaboration marks Rihanna and Enninful’s sixth cover together across W, Vogue and now 72, continuing a creative partnership that has stretched across more than fifteen years.
Rihanna does not simply wear the couture. She becomes the portrait hanging inside the palace.
Explore the official cover story and bring home more Rihanna and fashion-photography inspiration.
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Rihanna Reigns Through Couture and Illusion
Makó brings his distinctive sense of dimension, atmosphere and visual illusion to the story, often allowing Rihanna to blend into the surrounding tones like the subject of an aged oil painting.
The wardrobe travels through Schiaparelli Couture, Givenchy, Chanel, Bottega Veneta, Alexander McQueen and Dior Couture, giving each portrait its own shape while maintaining the story’s larger royal vision.
Every look becomes part of the same commanding character: royal, mysterious, controlled and slightly untouchable. Even when the silhouettes turn strange or exaggerated, Rihanna remains completely at ease inside them.
Some stars model clothes. Rihanna makes the clothes audition for her.
The Beauty Team Builds a Modern Queen
Yusef Williams created the editorial’s sculptural hair, bringing shape, height and old-Hollywood drama into Makó’s surreal visual world.
Ammy Drammeh handled makeup, while Jenny Longworth completed the transformation with understated nails that allow the couture, skin and hair to remain part of one unified portrait.
The final images move between softness and spectacle. Skin, fabric, hair and painted-looking backgrounds melt into one another until it becomes difficult to tell where Rihanna ends and Makó’s imagined world begins.
It is fashion photography treated as portraiture—and portraiture pushed directly into dream space.
Rihanna’s La Reine Portraits for 72
Dig into Rihanna’s complete painterly transformation for the Summer 2026 issue, photographed by Szilveszter Makó and styled by Edward Enninful.
The Summer issue of 72 is centered on performance and ability, and Rihanna’s story approaches both through the discipline of image-making. Every element—pose, hair, silhouette, makeup and lighting—is pushed toward the same commanding final character.
Enninful and Rihanna’s long creative history gives the editorial a confidence that newer collaborations rarely possess. They understand when to add spectacle, when to pull back and when to let a single look carry an entire frame.
Rihanna’s La Reine Editorial in Motion
See more of Rihanna’s painterly transformation for the Summer 2026 issue of 72 through INYIM Media’s social presentation.
La Reine does not ask for the throne. Rihanna simply arrives, and the throne remembers who it belongs to.
Sources: 72’s official Rihanna cover story and creative credits, the official Summer 2026 issue listing and 72’s Yusef Williams beauty feature.
