Nicki Minaj Talks How “Chun-Li” Spawned Her Own Fendi Capsule Collection

Nicki Minaj Talks How “Chun-Li” Spawned Her Own Fendi Capsule Collection

Nicki Minaj could teach a class on manifesting your dreams! For nearly a year, the rap icon has been rocking designs by Italian fashion house, Fendi, after the massive success of her single, “Chun-Li.” In it, she raps the lyrics:

“Bentley tints on, Fendi prints on”

And, voila! Nicki Minaj co-created her own 127-piece Fendi capsule collection, fittingly titled, “Fendi Prints On.” In next month’s issue of Elle, the rap queen talked about leaving her mark on the fashion world.

Nicki reveals how her Fendi-clothed “Chun-Li” cover photo landed her the capsule collection:

“I ended up saying, ‘Fendi prints on,’ just freestyling. I didn’t write that lyric down; I was just having fun…I can’t believe that when I was doing that little picture that day, with the Fendi jacket and Fendi panties on – I didn’t think that the actual company would think that that was dope. To know that they liked it that much, and now it’s on a T-shirt, is so iconic to me.”

On what she wanted the direction of her collection to be:

“If I’m going to do Fendi. I want to feel like I’m back in Southside Jamaica, Queens, New York, wearing Fendi. I don’t only want to be front row rocking my Fendi; I want to be in the hood rocking my Fendi, too…[fans] are going to be really surprised when they see that I did think of things for them. I totally know that there are a lot of people who think that they can’t afford Fendi, and those are going to be some of our new customers, because they’re going to go and get the sneaker, or the hat, or the T-shirt. If you love your fashion, then sometimes you save up for certain things that you really love. When I was doing my 9-to-5, this is something that I would have saved up for.”

On why Fendi is important to hip-hop culture:

“Certain brands have always been sought after, because we’d hear rappers rap about them all our lives, and we think that these brands signify some sort of success in life. And then, when you’re able to actually a afford them, it feels like, ‘Wow, I’ve accomplished one of my goals, at least in the fashion world.’ Now, looking back, I don’t think brands make me successful, but I do think that there are certain ones out there, like Fendi, that make women feel glamorous. [The collection is] super confident. It’s like, ‘I don’t give a fuck what you feel about it, this is what I’m rocking.’ Hip-hop embodies that cockiness.”

Nicki Minaj hopes “Fendi Prints On” stirs up confidence in her fans:

“[This collection is] for everyone who wants to show skin. We all go to the beach, we all get sexy, we all have sex, we all bust it open!…I want to make clothes that make girls with my body look sexy. We’re in a new time, where you don’t have to feel bad if you’re not the tiniest you’ve ever been. Women, we struggle with that so much, because we’ll go back to old pictures of ourselves, and we’ll be like, ‘I used to be so skinny!,’ and we start making ourselves feel bad. What I want [to tell] girls is not necessarily, ‘Go and gain weight and have a big booty,’ but ‘If you do have curves, be proud of it, flaunt it—love the skin you’re in.’ As clichéd as that sounds, I’ve been really trying to teach myself that. ‘This is who I am; take me or leave me, bye!’”

Being the fashion icon she is, she naturally hopes to design her own line one day:

“I’ve been really strategic and picky on purpose, turning some things down and waiting for the right opportunities. Once people see that you have selling power and you are able to impact a brand in such a positive way, then I think it’s only a matter of time. The Fendi collection alone made me feel like I would love to continue doing this—getting to that boss status. That’s where I would like to take fashion, for sure.”

Nicki Minaj’s “Fendi Prints On” collection will be available on October 14th.

Written by Miata Shanay