The star is ‘Mary Antoinette’ on the cover of CR magazine

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Born in Vienna, Austria in 1755, Marie Antoinette (Queen of France) married the future French king Louis XVI when she was just 15 years old. The young couple soon came to symbolize all of the excesses of the reviled French monarchy, and Marie Antoinette herself became the target of a great deal of vicious gossip. After the outbreak of the French Revolution in 1789, the royal family was forced to live under the supervision of revolutionary authorities. In 1793, the king was executed and Marie Antoinette was arrested and tried for trumped-up crimes against the French republic. She was convicted and sent to the guillotine on October 16, 1793. Also she was famous for her elaborate hairdos (very big hair) and her love for cakes.

For her CF Fashion Book, French fashion doyenne Carine Roitfeld and Terry Richardson for her re imagined Rihanna as a modern-day Marie Antoinette. She explained that her reason for featuring the singer was because she relates with the theme of the issue’s ninth edition which is dedicated to one of history's most controversial and misunderstood heroines: Marie Antoinette. In fact, her most famous quote, let them eat cake, was never actually uttered by the Queen and has, over time, been attributed to her by mistake.

“It was this lack of understanding, as much as her notoriously over the top personal style, that moved Carine. I wanted to show that she is not just a villain to be despised or a muse to be channeled, says Carine. She is neither, actually. She is a prototype for contemporary fame, body, beauty, celebrity, and femininity. Everything done by her and to her has influenced society’s concept of womanhood, for better or worse. Looking at the life and times of Marie Antoinette, we begin to see parallels between her and the female celebrities of today. Who besides our modern pop stars are followed with more obsession and desire?. Rihanna is beloved while Marie Antoinette was not, but she shares with the Queen an unapologetic attitude that inspires and fascinates. She says what she wants, smokes what she wants, and wears what she wants, making her an icon of authenticity in an era of calculated, pre-baked fame. And there couldn't be anyone more fit for this role of the disparaged yet deeply compelling Queen. "In this issue, I wanted to capture that sense of attraction and repulsion: the fantasy of glamour but also the poison and prison of femininity and society."

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She further explains that the magazine iscrafted around key elements of her [Marie Antoinette's] life, her exuberant sense of fashion, her elaborate hairdos, her intense sexuality almost like a modern biography through fashion imagery. And on the cover is Rihanna, who shares with Marie Antoinette an air of royalty that I, and the world it seems, find intoxicating."

The cover is just a cherry on top of a long summer of Rihanna. Her ANTI tour took her around the world. She accepted the Video Vanguard Award at the V.M.A.s. She faced rumors she and Drake, Canada’s finest, were on again. She got a new tattoo. And now, finally, she’s been anointed with the Marie Antoinette comparison. “Let them eat edibles!,” you can almost hear her say.

Roitfeld achieved Rihanna’s Antoinette-esque makeover with curls piled on top of her head and a couple of corsets. In one cover, the singer frankly holds her left breast in a coat and corset by In the other, she wears a corset by up and comer Dilara Findikoglu and smokes (you be the judge).