Rihanna’s bump pride is breaking a long-held pregnancy taboo.
On Tuesday,she arrived at the Dior fashion show in Paris wearing a sheer,black babydoll gown,revealing a black,lace bra and string undies underneath. The look was completed with patent leather,pointy black boots. The week prior,in Milan,she joined A$AP Rocky front row at the Gucci fashion show wearing a decorative gold headdress,large lilac coat,black latex crop-top and black satin pants. All of it was Gucci.
“Right now,I’m really into pushing the idea of sexy,” she said in a. “When women get pregnant,society tends to make it feel like you[should] hide your sexy,and that you’re not sexy right now[but] you’ll get back there;and I don’t believe in that shit.
She continued,“So I’m trying stuff that I might not have even had the confidence to try before I was pregnant. The strappiest,the thinnest,and the more cut-outs the better for me.”
Rihanna’s bold,tummy-centred,unapologetically sensual aesthetic is undoubtedly refreshing – even shocking – depending on what you’re used to.
And not many of us are used to this. When she made her “bump debut” in late January,she paired her oversized pink jacket with low-slung bootleg jeans,the ends of them so long they covered her shoes,becoming wet in the New York snow.
“If I wore this I’d get rightly cancelled,” remarked AmericanVogue columnist and author,Raven Smith next to his own of the outfit.
In February,I sent a photo of Rihanna at the Super Bowl,where she wore a sheer blue blouse and jeans,to a close friend,with the message “I want to support this…” but I trailed off,afraid of what my distaste for her outfit would say about my own stunted beliefs. My friend replied “Imagine ANY other person in this. Horrendous. Though she has my full support,of course.”
Of course. As elderly millennials (and mothers ourselves) my friend and I don’t fully grasp Rihanna’s maternity wear. We know our Boomer mothers would call it tacky or worse. But that does not prevent us from admiring it.
Part of our admiration springs from our recognition of Rihanna as a pioneer in our culture. Rihanna possesses an intelligence that extends beyond what we think we want in the moment and intuits instead where we're going and what we'll need when we get there.
In 2018,when Victoria’s Secret was still sending emaciated models down the runway,and,Rihanna launched her lingerie line,Savage X Fenty,featuring women of every size,sexuality and colour. In January of this year,Rihanna launched lingerie for men. In 2017,her cosmetics label,Fenty Beauty,was similarly designed for a diverse range of skin colours. Rihanna does not follow – she invents. And she doesn’t care what you think. Why should she? The woman has a net worth of.
If an ordinary pregnant person were to wear what Rihanna wears,she’d be derided,not just for bringing the “sexy” but for being so cavalier. Why? Because motherhood in our culture still carries connotations of seriousness,selflessness,and a type of good grace. In her 2003 best-seller,We Need to Talk About Kevin,Lionel Shriver wrote that pregnancy carried with it the idea of self-demotion;where the mother-to-be goes from driver to vehicle;from householder to house. Blessed be the fruit,and all that.
Maternity fashion more or less reflects this. It may only be Kate Middleton who has worn a smock within the last 10 years,but the bulk of maternity wear is often pretty,wholly conservative,and deliberately unremarkable.
It’s true that pregnancy can become uncomfortable and there are sartorial decisions we’ve all made to put functionality ahead of vanity. But most people,uncomfortable or not,are still opting for a tasteful Spell gown,or leggings and low-heeled boots over anything remotely belly-baring.
Much has been done in the last two decades to dismantle so many of motherhood’s narrow expectations. Still. Few women could dress the way Rihanna is dressing right now and not suffer disdain. And that’s exactly why we need her. We need the woman who is rich and successful and fashionable enough to dress this way to move the needle for the rest of us. Rihanna is walking in her lace tops and lingerie and knee-high boots,so that one day,we may run.
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