The 2015 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show just took place this week and although it seems as though it will be just as amazing as ever, not everything went as planned. Rihanna canceled her performance at the show and performances for the night were done by The Weeknd, Selena Gomez, and Ellie Goulding. MTV has reported that she canceled in order to work on her upcoming album "Anti," but it has been rumored that at least part of the reason is because of model Jourdan Dunn, as well as Kendall Jenner.
“Wish I was there with you guys. Kill it tonight. See you all next time.” This was the note attached to pink balloons. The cancelation was last minute and Dunn had been in the show for the past three years according to news.com.au. The article goes on to say that Dunn and Rihanna are close friends so when it was announced that Dunn was cut from the show, Rihanna quickly left as well.
Right after Rihanna left, Dunn took to Twitter saying “Feeling so much better about not doing BS... sorry I mean VS now that Rihanna isn't doing it also”. The tweet was deleted soon afterward, but it was clear that Dunn wasn’t happy about being a replacement. To some, this may look especially bad considering that Dunn was one of the few black women to walk in the show.
This isn’t the first time that Rihanna and Jenner have had some kind of conflict, though. In 2013, Jenner went to see the “Diamonds” singer in concert. She tweeted “If Rihanna doesn’t perform Complicated tomorrow I’m gunna [sic] be very upset #FavSong!” The singer simply replied, “Well don’t come” after fans screenshot the tweet and tagged her in it.
This also brings up the topic that Kendall Jenner is new to the modeling profession, but she’s made some large strides in her career. An article in Vanity Fair says that “Kendall Jenner and Gigi Hadid [fellow newcomer] are the freshman girls who immediately started dating seniors.” This meaning that they’ve risen to the top without having to put in those grueling hours of work to get there. Hadid is the daughter of Real Housewife of Beverly Hills Yolanda Foster and has appeared on the show a number of times.
It’s very interesting to see how some people may be favored because of their name. I’m not directly saying that Jenner was chosen because of who she is because she’s worked for a number of top designers in the past. However, because Jourdan Dunn has been with them for so long and many people are calling for more diversity in fashion, this was particularly disheartening. Why couldn’t Jenner replace one of the many white models on the runway?
The Victoria’s Secret show airs on Tuesday, Dec. 8, on CBS at 10 p.m.
