Rihanna and Donna Karan team up for charity merchandise line

Student-designed range aiming to boost Rhi-Rhi's Clara Lionel Foundation

Monday, 8th May 2017

Rihanna has sold over 230 million records worldwide.

Barbadian superstar Rihanna has partnered with acclaimed designer Donna Karen to develop a new collection of merchandise.

The pair are working alongside The New School's Parsons School of Design in New York City.

The fashionista singer – who wowed critics on the red carpet at the Met Gala earlier this year – is aiming to use her new line of items to raise funds for her Clara Lionel Foundation.

The singer founded the non-profit organisation in 2012, and it aims to benefit impoverished communities across the globe, with healthcare, and education, among other various programmes.

Haitian influence

The new collection will have a Haitian feel to it because Rihanna is sending Parsons School design students to the Design, Organization, Training Center in Port-au-Prince this summer.

While there students will get to work with local artists on the styles for the new venture.

Karan and designer Paula Coles founded the centre as a creative meeting place for the Haitian artist community.

Meanwhile, Rihanna will be honoured at the Parsons Benefit in New York City on 17 May.

She is also scheduled to reveal the winners of the Design Fellowship programme, which sends three Parsons students to Haiti for six to eight weeks during the summer.