
Rihanna, Rihanna, Rihanna: When are you going to learn to stop ripping off photographers’ work?
In October, the songstress settled out of court for an “undisclosed sum” with David LaChapelle over her S&M video, which allegedly cribbed directly from his work–and she faced another lawsuit from photographer Philipp Paulus over a scene in the same video, which was undeniably similar to an editorial he shot a year beforehand. But, from the looks of her latest video “You Da One,” Rihanna has even more legal troubles ahead of her.
In the new video, RiRi writhes around on the ground, persumably nude (she’s actually wearing a flesh colored body suit, according to the Daily Mail) as shadows in the shape of stripes or dots create a unique pattern across her skin. Sounds pretty creative right? Except that, as the sharp-eyed commenters on Fashin pointed out, the scenes look near identical to the work of famed fashion photographer Sølve Sundsbø.
Sundsbø is known for his work with shadows and manipulated light and it’s a theme he’s revisited a few times, however none sticks out in the mind so much as the editorial Points a la Ligne, which he did for Numero back in 2008. As you can see, Rihanna’s “You Da One” video is certainly…”inspired” by the editorial. From the shadows, to the poses–even RiRi’s bowl cut is strikingly similar to the one model Edita Vilkeviciute wore in Sundsbø’s shoot.
Looks like Rihanna might be heading back to court soon.


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