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 ground-breaking 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 attentions 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 padded coat and Manolo Blahnik heels, on a window ledge with the night sky and the famous 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 and the mottled skin tone of pregnancy.
OK, we don’t all – in truth very few of us – have the confidence to wear an unbuttoned, oversized shirt and a pair of low-slung pyjama shorts out and about during the third trimester. Nor will many women feel utterly 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. When dressed up rather than down.
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? You can hardly tell!’ 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 make-up and notch up the jewellery (although I doubt I would have turned up in the office with a bare belly). Rihanna has redefined pregnancy glamour in a way that will inspire many women.
Irony of the eco drive killing front gardens
WE BRITS love our front gardens. The hedges and the magnolias, the privet and the box. So may I draw your attention to a wonderful book on the subject – The Grove: A Nature Odyssey In 19½ Front Gardens, by Ben Dark.
The subject is the front gardens along a particular South London road where he pushed his son’s pram en route to nursery. He points out that, unlike back gardens, these spaces are an exercise in altruism.
The great benefactors of front gardens are the passer-by rather than the owner inside the house. He also observes that a pram is a great disguise if you want to case a joint, since nobody is suspicious of a bloke poking their nose around with a buggy.
But front gardens are under threat. As more of us turn to electric cars, many plots are being paved, not only to provide off-street parking but to house a charging point. How ironic that the attempt at making our driving habits more green is undermining the environmentally desirable horticulture of our streets.
Kitchen trouble is already brewing
GETTING the room ready for the Ukrainian couple I hope will soon be with us, I am trying to decide whether a kettle and a small fridge would be useful additions.
Would Ukrainians find that a friendly addition to their quarters or will it make them think they aren’t welcome in the kitchen? The first, I suspect, of many such dilemmas.
A sucker for a rotten Apple
OOF, it feels bad when you know you’re a sucker. I spent two hours on the line the other day buying a new iPhone I didn’t need. My old iPhone 7 was perfectly good, just a bit slow. But I found myself lured into buying a new white thing the size of a small fridge. It’s just arrived and doesn’t include instructions, charger or headphones. I’d like to blame Apple charging us ever more for less, but really we’re to blame for letting them get away with it.
Balancing skills of charismatic Chris
CHRIS MASON is a brilliant choice
for BBC Political Editor. He has a quite unusual ability to appear unassuming while having a distinctive personality. Although political editors are meant to be impartial, all successful broadcasters have to be able to make a strong impression. His skill, like his predecessor Laura Kuenssberg’s, is to balance the two.
Big respect… to the victim of my axe!
THE other day I was introduced to a man, to discuss a potential work project. It turned out we had some acquaintances in common and the meeting went well. At the end, I looked at him and said: ‘You know, I’ve got a feeling we’ve met before.’ ‘We have,’ was his immediate reply, adding: ‘You fired me.’ My respect for him, in brushing aside that potentially catastrophic blow to our working relationship with such grace, doubled instantly.
Galleries can’t beat an Easter egg hunt
IN THE long list of things I miss about no longer having a small child, the Easter egg hunt rates pretty high. My parents created wonderful hunts for us and very little has ever matched the thrill of finding those sparkling silver-foiled ovals nestled in the brickwork and dotted around the garden.
So it was a tradition I carried on when I had my own family. Now, sadly, everyone’s grown up and there’s no more hunting. I doubt my proposed Easter Sunday visit to the William Morris gallery will hold the same excitement.