Rihanna

Barbados R&B singer Rihanna, 18, and designer Zac Posen (Sean Jean) are teaming up to create outfits that the singer will wear for the Fashion Rocks concert, the charity event kicking off New York Fashion Week. The concert, which includes headliner Elton John along with Christina Aguilera, Beyonce, Kanye West, Faith Hill, and the Pussycat Dolls, will be held at Radio City Music Hall today (Sept. 7) and televised on CBS Friday night.

"Rihanna's incredibly beautiful and a good dancer. She's a rare star with a full complement of talents," said Posen, 25, during the final fittings for her dresses earlier this week. "I started watching her on `Video Wake-up' on MTV."

While posing for several photo shoots, Rihanna noticed that the clothes she always seemed drawn to were Posen's. Once she found out that she would be performing at the concert, she contacted Posen about her wardrobe: requesting a dress for the red carpet, another to perform and another for a secret appearance.

Rihanna?s dress selections included a pink V-neck sweater dress with a pink and silver chiffon satin slip as an overlay; seafoam green babydoll dress with a V-neck halter and gold sunbursts around the hem; and a white stretch satin dress with a V to the navel, pleats at the waist and a bouncy, flirty skirt and a silver gown with a halter top and mermaid-style bottom.

As Posen nipped and tucked the dresses with pins, Rihanna said the whole experience of Fashion Rocks and being outfitted by a well-known designer seemed unimaginable only a year or two ago.

"Growing up in Barbados, I was just a regular girl," she tells the Associated Press. "But I was always interested in fashion. Barbados is so far away from everything else, my friend and I would look at magazines and say, `So that's what's hot in the rest of the world.' We'd wear sweaters, boots ? we didn't care if that's what was in style."