Rihanna's Personal Chef Reveals Cooking For Her

Suzannah Weiss 8 hrs ago

© Photo: Owen Kolasinski/BFA/REX/Shutterstock. Refinery29

Between winning Grammies, designing shoes, landing huge acting roles, building hospitals, and sending kids to school, being Rihanna could make anyone work up quite an appetite. So it's a good thing she's got a dedicated personal chef who caters to her chaotic schedule and dietary needs.
Debbie Solomon was Rihanna's first personal chef ever. When they first started working together four years ago, it was a whirlwind. "First was Super Bowl at her house. Deep end. Then her twenty-fifth birthday party in Hawaii," Solomon told Bon Appetit.
In order to understand the food Rihanna liked, she consulted an expert: her mother. Solomon's from Jamaica, while Rihanna likes Barbadian and Guyanese dishes. These are pretty similar, except their names change wherever you go, making the job extra confusing.
But the hardest part of of cooking for Rihanna is that her tastes change as quickly as her professional projects. Or, as Solomon puts it, she's "a moody eater." The chef has had to treat the pop star very differently from her other clients. Normally, she said, "I would send in a menu on a Sunday or Monday and they would pick for the week, and then I'd be able to shop and prep, but this is nothing like that. We don't know what we're gonna want to eat tomorrow, so why even pick today?"
Rihanna does have a few consistent favorites, though, and they make us really want to dine with her. In addition to staples like pasta, meat, and veggies, she packs spices like curry and cumin seeds when she travels to make sure her food never gets bland.
This seems to fit with Solomon's culinary philosophy that we all deserve the finest. "There shouldn't be shame in eating food," she said. However, she added, "If I take a bite of something and it's shitty to me, I'm not just going to eat it because I’m hungry. I'm going to stop eating that shitty thing." Sounds like RiRi's in good hands.
 

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Photo: Clint Spaulding/WWD/REX/Shutterstock.

I want to remind you that Rihanna, she of the no-fucks-given attitude and a best-selling line of creepers, is going to be on the upcoming season of Bates Motel. Given her recent public feud with Azealia Banks and that epic Ocean's 8 photo, you may have forgotten this very important detail. But our lady Rihanna (or, as my high school classmate once called her, Rihsus) is headed to the small screen very soon. The new season of Bates Motel premieres on February 20, 2017. And, in the newly dropped trailer for the upcoming season, you can take a peek at her VIP performance.

Rihanna will play Psycho's Marion Crane, the woman who met her untimely death in the shower. (You recall the iconic moment — the knife, the shrieking violin, etc.) RiRi herself announced that she would be playing the role in a video this summer. Though Crane is an indelible part of the canon, she's not a well-known character due to her relatively early death in the film. In the upcoming season of Bates Motel, we can expect a more nuanced version of Crane than we met in Hitchkock's original.

"We’re taking threads of that story and definitely using them so it’s recognizable, it’s just where we go with it is very different," executive producer Kerry Ehrin told Entertainment Weekly.

Rihanna appears in the final moments of the trailer, asking for a room at the Bates Motel. Norman Bates, played by Freddie Highmore, quickly offers her a key. Because when Rihanna asks, you acquiesce. One simply hopes she doesn't immediately hop into the shower.

Watch the full trailer, below.

You Have To See The Spring Version Of Rihanna's Sell-Out Puma Shoes

Ana Colon

Photo: Courtesy of Fenty.

This post was originally published on September 29, 2016.
Anything Rihanna touches will be surrounded with buzz. It's true of her constantly sold-out Puma shoes, and it's also applicable to the runway component of her Fenty line. Just when we thought she couldn't up the ante on her inaugural New York Fashion Week runway show (with two Hadids, one Anna Wintour in the audience, and many different kinds of sneaker boots), Bad Gal packed up the show and shipped it to Paris. French Fenty does have one of the mainstays of the line we know, love, and shop relentlessly on drop days: The new range of shoes are fire.

Rihanna's spring '17 Fenty presentation took place at the very swanky Hôtel Salomon de Rothschild — a popular venue for fashion events in Paris, hosting Valentino Haute Couture shows and Kenzo parties in past seasons. Jay Z's own bubbly flowed freely during the latest Fenty showing. (Only the best for Rih.) The whole setup was inspired by old-school Paris Fashion Week shows, which were very intimate in nature: "It’s going to be a very salon-style show — very French — and that idea was inspired by those old Christian Dior shows from back in the day, when he would show in a small room," she explained to Vogue backstage.

That was the only main difference between the first and second Fenty drops: This time around, Rihanna hosted not one but two presentations, back to back — each with slight variations in looks, and a different Fenty outfit for the designer to wear for her final bow. A number of models — Jourdan Dunn! Doutzen Kroes! Sara Sampaio! — were there to take in the aristocracy athleisure-fied collection; as well as industry insiders, including designers Adam Selman and Virgil Abloh, and influencers like Chiara Ferragni. The catwalk was equally buzzy, with Imaan Hammam opening both shows, and Anwar Hadid taking his sophomore walk down the runway alongside fan favorites Adwoa Aboah, Dilone, and Taylor Hill.

The designer summed up the collection with this brilliantly specific description: "If Marie Antoinette was going to the gym and needed something to wear." It may sound niche, but it's pretty much the most appropriate way to describe Fenty's latest ready-to-wear. Each presentation features five color stories — pink, green, white, nude, and purple (with variations on the nude-hued looks between presentations) — featuring sweatpants with corsets, hoodies with pearls, lace do-rags, and Puma-branded fans. "It’s super-regal and a perfect mix of street- and sportswear," Rihanna told Vogue, adding that the soundtrack chosen to accompany the collection was a combination of violins and trap beats for that very reason.

Unsurprisingly, considering this is a Puma production, the stand-outs were the shoes. Whereas fall was heavy on the boots, Rihanna's spring will involve even more deft grate-dodging in stilettos. Puma's classic lace-up sneakers were transformed into pointed-toe, skinny-heeled mules; slingback heels; and thick gum-soled platforms (but with the eye row and signature stripe intact). Oh, and next season's slides? The furry strap has been replaced by an oversized satin bow.

Hey, this genre of aristocratic athleisure footwear could have a pretty commercial outcome, given Rihanna's track record at Puma. Although, while her first few Fenty styles ring in under $150, her catwalk pieces are a little pricier: Fall '16 platform boots go for $325, booties retail for $600, and over-the-knee shoes cap out at $750. One thing's for certain, though — you've never seen Puma Suedes like these before. Check out the Bad Gal-approved footwear that'll be pretty much everywhere next season.