RiRi’s bump glam beats my lumpy sofa look
THE pregnancy magazine cover is a well-worn trope, kicked off in 1991 with what was then the groundbreaking Vanity Fair shot of Demi Moore, naked and very, very pregnant. Fastforward 31 years and the same photographer, Annie Leibovitz, has worked similar magic on Rihanna for American Vogue – to triumphant effect.
Leibovitz’s pictures envelop the singer in a glossy, rich aura using the skills of lighting and post-production along with the attention of an enormous team of stylists, hairdressers and make-up artists.
Taken in the Ritz Paris, they show Rihanna as a fabulous superhero, posed naked but for a pair of her own-brand knickers and an oversized open Marc Jacobs coat and Manolo Blahnik heels, on a window ledge with the night sky and the Place Vendome obelisk behind her.
In other shots, belly chains and intricate skin inking along her ribcage give her the appearance of a warrior queen.
The shoot is the pinnacle of RiRi’s last few months of showing us how to look show-stoppingly pregnant. The Vogue pictures are wonderful, but it’s the papped shots over recent weeks that are really inspiring, where her linea nigra has not
been retouched, and where she exposes a sprinkling of body hair.
OK, we don’t all – in truth very few of us – have the confidence to wear an unbuttoned, oversized shirt out and about during the third trimester. Nor will many women feel comfortable about baring their torso clad only in jewels and a pink puffa, as she did on an early walkabout with her beau ASAP Rocky. But the point is she has put down a new marker in pregnancy dress. She has shown how delightful this fecund shape is when exposed, rather than disguised.
Pregnancy is such a complicated time for women. Mostly, we want to be pregnant but at the same time we admire women whose pregnancy seems almost invisible. ‘Are you really 30 weeks?’ women say when a friend has somehow managed to hide their bump.
When I was pregnant a zillion years ago I looked like a lumpy sofa and dressed like one. But if I’d had Rihanna as an example, I am sure I would have felt inspired to ramp up my appearance, ladle on the makeup and notch up the jewellery (although I doubt I’d have turned up in the office with a bare belly). Rihanna has redefined pregnancy glamour in a way that will inspire many women.