When Johnny Depp met Rihanna
When music icon Rihanna organised a fashion show, she chose legendary actor Johnny Depp as one of her celebrity models.
Inviting the then 59-year-old Pirates of the Caribbean star to model underwear may have seemed an unlikely choice, but it certainly set the internet and social media alight.
Far from looking out of place on a catwalk, Depp, the face of Dior Sauvage fragrance since 2015, proved he really can turn his hand to anything.
The fashion show in November 2022 was aimed at showcasing Rihanna’s Savage X Fenty lingerie brand and embraced diversity with its choice of models. This is something the Barbados born singer and businesswoman, 36, has always been keen to do, often stating her brand stands for “inclusivity”.
Her previous show in 2019 was billed as “redefining sexy” with its choice of models, who comprised people of different sizes and body types, challenging what society saw as the norm for beauty.
Depp and Rihanna, two icons of the entertainment industry in their individual fields, ensured the 2022 Savage X Fenty fashion show was an event still talked about today.
Rihanna career history
Born in 1988 in Saint Michael, Barbados, Robyn Rihanna Fenty is one of the top-selling recording artists of all time, achieving 14 number one hit singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Her music career began at 15, when she formed a girl group with two classmates and auditioned for New York record producer Evan Rogers, singing covers of Destiny’s Child and Mariah Carey hits.
After being snapped up by Def Jam Recordings in 2005, she sold 60 million copies of her albums and 215 million digital tracks worldwide during the next two decades.
Her acting career has included roles in the US drama series Bates Motel and in feature films such as Battleship and Ocean’s 8.
An astute businesswoman, she has also launched several brands including Fenty Beauty, Fenty Hair and Savage X Fenty, designing glamorous lingerie for people of all shapes and sizes.
Rihanna Dior contract
Rihanna was announced as the face of Dior in March 2015, making her the first black woman to be chosen as a Dior model for the brand’s global advertising campaigns and adding to her reputation as an inspiration for young women everywhere.
She became the new face of J’adore, the legendary fragrance by the House of Dior, in September 2024, in an advertising campaign which portrays her as a goddess dressed from head to toe in gold. Today, Rihanna remains a global music icon, singer, songwriter and actress, as well as running her own business empire.
Johnny Depp career
Born in 1963 in Kentucky, USA, Depp is a legendary actor who has received a Golden Globe Award and nominations for three Academy Awards. Often playing eccentric characters, he has become one of Hollywood’s most bankable actors, with his films having grossed more than £6 billion worldwide.
A musician playing in rock bands before deciding on an acting career instead, he made his big screen debut in the cult horror film, A Nightmare on Elm Street, in 1984.
After appearing in war film Platoon in 1986, he starred in the TV series 21 Jump Street from 1987 to 1990, turning him into a teen idol.
He has since starred in many box office hits including Donnie Brasco, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Sleepy Hollow, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Edward Scissorhands, Alice in Wonderland and many more.
Depp also launched his own film production company, Infinitum Nihil, and formed a rock group, Hollywood Vampires, with Joe Perry and Alice Cooper.
Johnny Depp Dior
French luxury fashion brand Dior enlisted Depp as the face of their men’s aftershave, Sauvage, in 2015. He has starred in multiple advertising campaigns for the fragrance since, signing a new seven-figure contract in 2022.
His appearances in adverts such as In the Wilderness, playing his guitar and being followed by a pack of wolves as he strolls through the desert, may have prompted his foray into modelling and his meeting with Rihanna to take part in her fashion show.
Media reports revealed it was Rihanna’s idea to feature the actor in the runway show for her Savage X Fenty lingerie brand. Far from being uncomfortable as a model, Depp walks casually to the backing track of So Fresh, So Clean by Outkast, clad in what appears to be a silk robe.
Rihanna wanted to make a big impression, as she and her partner, rapper A$AP Rocky, had just welcomed their first child, RZA Athelston Mayers, in 2022. At the time, she told the press, “It’s the first real thing that I’ve done workwise since I had the baby.”
The show didn’t disappoint, thanks to its focus on diversity, with Depp’s cameo role being one of the talking points, even though his appearance lasted for less than one minute, according to a report in the NME.
Looking like a natural, he appears wearing a dark coloured loose-fitting robe and trousers, with a patterned top underneath, from behind a tree. Dancers perform around him as he walks across the set, with his hair in a ponytail and sporting a goatee beard.
Depp was one of a number of male models taking part in the show, but despite having only a cameo role that was filmed earlier, he had the highest profile by far. Afterwards, he thanked Rihanna on his social media feeds for inviting him to appear, obviously having enjoyed the experience.
Rihanna described the show as being “on a scale unlike anything we’ve ever done” before – a fact proven by the fact it is still being talked about two years later.
