With a Cartier tiara on her head, Rihanna's message is clear—she rules the pop world.
That's at least the headline implied by her cover shoot for W magazine. Dubbed the "Baddest Bitch of the Post-Apocalypse" by the revered fashion magazine, the 28-year-old Grammy winner turns heads once again, this time for the highly anticipated September issue.
Photographed by the renowned Steven Klein, the editorial unravels like a short story concocted by Se7en screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker. Surrounded by a dreary dystopia set on fire, Rihanna stars as warrior queen "Tomorrow," looking equally the part while clad in a hardened mixture of layered leathers and metals designed by the likes of Prada, Proenza Schouler and more. As for the dripping diamonds, they're a reminder we're looking at royalty after all.
Amid all of the gloom and doom is a bit of an unexpected silver lining—a visible tattoo of Minnie Mouse imprinted on a soldier's back.
The real star of this spread is Rihanna's cutting edge makeup. Between what looks like elaborate crystal adornments, dripping metallic shadows, crimson lip art and extreme graphic eyeliner that merges with her entire face mask, it is clear cosmetics really have no bounds.
While armed with her post-apocalyptic apparel, Rihanna emerges from the fog as a soldier for freedom of expression as she faces off against "thinking machines," as the magazine described.
However, in real life, there's one machine in particular the pop star is not so fond of these days—iPhones with Pokémon GO downloaded.
During one of her concerts over the weekend, Rihanna warned the crowd to put their phones down for just two hours. "I don't want to see you texting your boyfriends or your girlfriends," she told the crowd. "I don't want to see you catching any Pokémons up in this bitch."
As proven by this photoshoot, if there's anyone to lay down the law, it's W's "baddest bitch."