Kevin Mazur/WireImageIt's no secret Rihanna is a fashionista.
Known as a fashion risk taker, the "Stay" crooner's edgy looks caught the attention of Balmain's creative director Olivier Rousteing, who had his eye on her when choosing the next face of the luxury brand's campaign.
"I'm really thrilled that we have Rihanna in this campaign," he said in a video for the company. "A few months ago, she came to the studio and from that I wanted to create all this collection around her."
"I just think she's this girl that everybody knows, he continued. "She's powerful, she knows how to mix beauty, she's boyish, she's charming. She's the new icon. She mixes fashion with music and I think my collection is based on that."
Rihanna's own fashion inspiration didn't originally come from another celebrity, though; That passion derived from one family member in particular.
"My love for fashion–let me say, my admiration for fashion–started with my mom," she told Glamour UK. "I used to watch her get dressed. She was around my age right now, and she was so fly. I remember not even knowing how to do that because I was such a tomboy."
Rihanna, who has gone on to grace the covers of numerous high end fashion magazines like Vogue, In Style, and Glamour, also executive produced and starred in her own fashion reality competiton show called Styled to Rock last October.
The style maven, who said she gets "excited by discovering new designers," told the mag she wanted to be a part of the show to bring more independent designers' fashions to the forefront.
"I felt like there were all these talented people in New York who had a very keen eye for style and design, but I couldn't find them [to work with]," she added.
As for which celebrity she would put on the top of her best-dressed list, Rihanna said it was none other than Nicole Richie.
"Oh my God, are you kidding me? Nicole Richie. She just pisses me off, she's so good," she said. "But you know who is the best who ever did it? Princess Diana. She was like—she killed it. Every look was right. She was gangsta with her clothes. She had these crazy hats. She got oversize jackets. I loved everything she wore."
Speaking of making a statement, On the eve of the Grammys, Rihanna stunned in a daring bright low-cut yellow long silk robe that had a very high split at a pre-Grammy gala Saturday night in Los Angeles.
She later changed into an oversized baseball jacket, a black top with matching skinny jeans and black Converse sneakers to attend a party at 1OAK, where Drake and Jay Z were also in attendance.