Since announcing her pregnancy, the superstar sets the tone. Unlike traditional photographs inspired by Renaissance Madonnas and floral and angelic settings, Rihanna adopts an urban style, hands in jeans pockets oversized hole in the knees, puffer Vintage pink Chanel on the shoulders, wide open to reveal the belly in the freezing streets of New York. Throughout her pregnancy, she will maintain the course of dissidence, “When I found out I was pregnant, I said to myself: it’s not about me going shopping in the maternity wards. I love dressing up too much, choosing my own clothes. I’m not going to let that part go away because my body is changing.” she told Vogue magazine.
“Mom or Whore”
Riri then blithely waltzes the norms that a pregnant woman should show “decency” by not baring her baby bump and not showing seduction through clothes. “Mom or bitch”, it would be the choice. Too little for the singer who enjoys showing off her glorious abdomen at every appearancebringing out an ultra-coloured, sexy, transparent wardrobe, fastenings, rhinestones, in a mix of urban, chic, trashy style, according to her mood, such as the babydoll looking through which she wore to the Dior Fashion Week 2022 show, or an Alaïa set in bright orange and transparent lace accessorized with vamp gloves, halfway between Catwoman and Greta Garbo during a Vogue photo shoot in a Parisian Ritz bedroom. Rihanna loves fashion, and pregnant or not, it shows.
On the cover of British Vogue, Rihanna leads the dance
Like a good troublemaker, Rihanna it goes beyond the implosion of the decorum of the maternity wardrobe, it is the figure of the mother in retreat, soft, malleable, which vanishes in front of the son and the pater familia that attacks. The cover of the latest British Vogue which portrays her with her partner and their baby is a masterpiece in this. Highlighted by photographer duo Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin and Edward Enninful in styling, we watch Rihanna lead the ball like a true matriarch.
She is positioned in the foreground of the frame, her chest puffed out, in an almost preternatural posture, her neck snapped back to lift her chin even higher. On a secluded Malibu beach, The Barbadian girl stares at the camera with composure and ease while his partner rapper ASAP Rocky, stands in background, eyes closed, body leaned in, shoulders and back roundedplacing a kiss on the cheek of their chubby, all-smiling child who she holds with one arm against her chest – it is also him and not his partner who wears the neckline. In a complete reversal of traditional roles, she adopts a “motherly” posture. “, enveloping.
This cover is a break from the patriarchal mold as it presents a woman whose motherhood only partially defines, occupies space, and whose individuality does not disappear in favor of her son. but on the contrary it unfolds even more. Rihanna holds her spouse’s hand as a bond to their nuclear family, but one is emancipated from confinement to the domestic domain by looking outsidehis hypnotic green gaze straight at the lens, embodying the public sphere traditionally reserved for fathers.
The limits of “Wonder Woman”
There is however a downside to Rihanna’s conveyed storytelling. Done, it feeds the modern and alienating idea that it is possible for women to combine their different social roles with grace and ease and above all to excel in them.. Caribbean Wonder Woman leads parenting and business: her music career (admittedly on semi-hiatus), her brand available in multiple industries including Fenty Beauty cosmetics and Savage X Fenty underwear in collaboration with the group LVM extension. But she too an iconic performance at the Super Bowl in full postpartum and pregnant with her second child. All this instills deleterious illusions in ordinary mortals (mothers) who do not benefit from Riri’s material conditions and economic well-being, allowing him a certain balance between private and public life.
Furthermore, the excitement of a Rihanna can become a source of pressure when the only (legitimate) need of pregnant women can be rest and jogging clothes for nine months rather than dying a thirteen-minute performance perched on sliding platforms between five and twenty meters high. Especially since the status of a mother involves judgment and criticism no matter what you do. Rihanna is no exception and is regularly attacked despite her many performances for being late with the release of her ninth studio album.
Motherhood is unique in that it consistently fails, whether you’re Rihanna or my cousin Sarah.
Source: Madmoizelle
Mary Crossley is an author at “The Fashion Vibes”. She is a seasoned journalist who is dedicated to delivering the latest news to her readers. With a keen sense of what’s important, Mary covers a wide range of topics, from politics to lifestyle and everything in between.
