Rihanna saw fashion as the "least important thing" after she gave birth to her children.
The Grammy-winner says that she is now in a place of "rediscovery" with her clothing after having her two babies, RZA and Riot.
Rihanna stated that her first pregnancy was more compatible with her fashion aspirations, allowing her to wear heels and not have to worry about picking up and cradling a baby. It wasn't until she was pregnant with her second child that she had to be more mindful for having a toddler.
"With the first pregnancy, I feel like I was able to wear heels all the way through," she told BBC. "But then with the second pregnancy, you have a toddler, a belly, it's winter, you have a coat, a baby bag. You're like, heels? Hmm, maybe not. That's why I got a little bit more creative with my comfortable style."
After having her second baby, she admits that she got "too comfortable," opting for casual clothing before she was ready to return to experimenting with what she wore.
"I got too comfortable after I had my second kid and I just was in robes, PJs, sweats and now I'm playing again. Now I'm having fun with my clothes."
Her rejuvenated interest in fashion comes after she was not sure if she could "even allow myself that space mentally to approach my closet and create stuff," being able to spend some time away from her children.
"After a while when you have kids, you think, this is the dumbest [stuff], the least important. It really is the least important thing," she says. "But it does something for you as a woman, and as a mum that's important for us."
Throughout both her pregnancies, Rihanna did have one rule: she "refused" to buy maternity clothes. The bold statement proved to be a challenge throughout the journey.
"I was like, whatever fits was what's going to work. And that made me challenge myself to get clever with style," she said, never one to turn down a fashion challenge. "I just want to do things my way. I just want to always stitch it up and put my own twist on it."
When it comes to dressing her kids, Rihanna says that her younger son, Riot, is currently sporting his older brother's hand-me-downs. She jokes that her A$AP Rocky-inspired outfits for the boys lead people to believe that the rapper is styling them himself.
"I have racks, I have bags. They're all sized and organized, and then whatever gets too small for RZA, I put into bins so that Riot can have them next. Riot is actually in all of RZA's 1-year-old clothes already. He's only six months. Everybody thinks Rocky dresses them because I dress them in Rocky outfits," she recently told Interview Magazine.
As the Fenty Beauty mogul re-approaches fashion in a new way, she is also returning to music in a way she hasn't in the past. Leading up to her long-awaited ninth studio album, Rihanna says that she is starting off with the visuals, crafting the songs after her ideas.
"I have a lot of visual ideas. It's weird. My brain is working backward right now. I usually have the music first, and the music leads me into all of these visual opportunities, and now I'm having all of these visuals, and I don't have the songs for them yet, but maybe that's the key, this time. Maybe the visual ideas are leading me to the songs that I need to make."
While a release date for the album is still unclear, it is sure to make a splash in both the music and fashion industries.
