Iconic.

Rihanna shined bright like a diamond last night at the annual CFDA Awards in New York. Amongst some of the biggest names in fashion, Ri Ri was honored with an Icon Award. Afterward, she celebrated  backstage with some twerking. Below is footage and a transcript of her acceptance speech.

Growing up I didn’t have a lot of access to fashion. But as far as I could remember, fashion has always been my defense mechanism. Even as a child I remember thinking, “She can beat me, but she cannot beat my outfit.” [Laughter and cheers.] And to this day I mean, that is how I think about it. I can compensate for all my weaknesses with my fashion. And so really, you really can … I enjoy the most that you can tell so much about who someone is just by their style — the way they put fashion together. And I think fashion has been an outlet for me to express myself, to speak up, to say who I am and to be very loud about it at times, and I just like to have fun with it. Fashion is just a world of thrills, it’s exciting, there’s no rules, there’s just … I mean, SHE has tons of rules [gestures at Anna Wintour, audience laughs] … Scratch that! Scratch that! [More audience laughter.] There are RULES! But rules are meant to be broken. [Audience cheers and claps.]

I want to thank MAC for being so supportive and for keeping my face so cute. I want to thank all of the stylists who I’ve worked with because it’s steps, it’s stages to get here, and now I can’t believe that we’re here at the CFDA awards. Mel Ottenberg, thank you! You GET ME. You honestly get me, and you understand what I’m trying to say. I can send you two pictures, and you bring back the rack full of exactly what I wanted. There’s nothing better than that because fashion should never be frustrating. It should be fun! Make it easy to me. I want to thank everybody here tonight, my friends, my family for being supportive, thank you guys! Good night.