Another reason to just love Rihanna and her unapologetic vibe. If she’s not speaking openly about gaining weight, she is naming a new eyeliner in her Fenty empire; “Cuz I’m black.” The actress/singer/makeup mogul is unstoppable even in Hollywood.
by Rae Ogbu
Recently, we heard that for her role in Ocean’s 8 where she plays the tech-savvy character, Nine Ball, Rihanna was the one who suggested that she had faux locs and so it happened. Nine Ball is the incredible wiz hacker who breaks into the Met’s security system and helps the other ladies carry out the heist undetected.
The physical look of Nine Ball was very important to the portrayal of her identity and Rihanna really wanted to represent of her Caribbean roots.
“Her locks would maintain that tie to Africa,” Rihanna hairstylist, Yusef Williams told Refinery29.
“She’d keep her accent. She wasn’t just going to be some American girl in this movie. Nine Ball is still a Caribbean girl that just happens to be in America.”
Williams talks about how he and Rihanna deliberated with the film’s director Gary Ross to discuss their visual concepts for the character.
“When people have locs, it’s kind of like their crown,” Williams said. “It’s their pride and joy. It’s like a flower… you gotta nourish it and watch it grow. Hair played a really big part in who Nine Ball came to be.”
They achieved the look we applauded using Shea butter and black seed oil to maintain the hair’s strength and created a “12 years of locs” overnight. They wanted it to have a loose, reggae look.
Then they thinned the locs during filming so it wasn’t too heavy for Rihanna to carry.
Asides her hairstyle, Rihanna’s Nine Ball character was costume designer Sarah Edwards’ favourite to costume. “She plays a computer hacker from the Caribbean, so I looked at pictures of Bob Marley and other Rastafarians,” she said. “She wears very oversized clothes, so when we see her character at the Met Gala, it’s a major transformation. It’s really fun.”
