I am currently 30 weeks pregnant with twins. Trying to navigate this strange new identity as a pregnant man (and, sip, soon to be mom) has been mildly terrifying and generally very confusing. While so much is changing in my life so quickly, I find myself holding onto the few things I can control. One of them is what I wear and how I present this new body I am to the world.
When I got pregnant, targeted ads for clothing immediately started filling my inbox and oversized feeds: tent dresses, maternity leggings, everything—all too obvious ways of hiding my delicate situation. Maybe it’s the hormones talking, but I remember entering the tips as erasures: some clever and comfortable ways to hide my body when it made new life. and then the singer Rihanna announced her pregnancyAnd it seemed like everything had changed.
before giving birth in early mayRihanna stuns in ever sexy, sometimes sporty, always fashion-forward ways. as he told Vogue in a recent cover story Which focused on her rule-breaking pregnancy fashion: “There’s no way I’m going shopping down the maternity aisle without. I’m sorry — it’s so much fun getting ready. I won’t let that part disappear because My body is changing.”
Rihanna drives her point home by gracing the cover in a sheer, red Alassa bodysuit and body-baring look at this season’s Fashion Week, not to mention her Instagram feed. Instead of the usual maternity jeans and demure Empire waist dress, pregnant Rihanna opted for low-slung pants that showed off her bump, sheer mini dresses that did the same and lots of evocative silhouettes and cutouts that kept her linea nigra on display throughout. But kept. Instead of hiding herself, Rihanna demanded that people watch.
“When women are pregnant, society tends to realize that you hide, hide your sexy, and that you just aren’t sexy. [but] You’ll go back there, and I can’t believe that—,” she said Refinery29 Back in February. “So I’m trying things that I couldn’t even believe I tried before I got pregnant. The strapiest, skinniest and more cutouts are better for me.” Hype Rihanna, Sermon.
I’m far from the only pregnant person who felt inspired by Rihanna’s sartorial choices. Earlier this month at the Cannes Film Festival, model Adriana Lima rocked a dress with belly cutouts for her baby bump on the red carpet and credited Rihanna for the inspiration. “Thanks @badgirlriri for opening the door,” she wrote on Instagram. written with photo of himself in cannesHashtag #BELLYOUT.
from the beginning, Rihanna announced her pregnancy By doing the opposite of covering yourself in billowing clothing. Instead, she posed with her partner, rapper A$AP Rocky while wearing Hot Pink Vintage Chanel Coat, ultra-low-rise jeans and a dramatic Lacroix necklace, all artfully styled to showcase her growing belly. My first thought when looking at the photo was, Hey, she looks amazing. My next thought was, how do I look so powerful even during my pregnancy?
It’s no surprise that a lot of non-celebrities are also switching up their maternity fashions now. “What Rihanna is doing right now is incredible,” said Ariane Goldman, founder and CEO of maternity fashion label Hatch. United States of America today, “If you had asked me years ago, would I include crop tops in the Hatch collection offerings, I would say ‘You’re out of your mind.'” But she said the company started designing them just to look Given what would happen “and we can’t keep them in stock. So clearly the trend is changing.”
I’m a lot less bold than Rihanna, and my life is certainly a lot less public, but I will say I had her in mind when I announced my pregnancy on social media with a picture of myself in a bikini – Something I would never have done otherwise. The only other photo of me pregnant in the grid shows me in a skin-tight bodycon dress, Rihanna inspiration once again. I’m pregnant and my body is changing, but that doesn’t mean it needs to be hidden, only to reveal when and when I’ve lost baby weight and look like my old self.
Of course, Rihanna is hardly the first to show off her pregnant body; there is a long list of Pregnant celebs shooting nude cover (Demi Moore, Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Serena Williams… the list goes on). But there’s something different about Rihanna’s approach that she plays with clothes to claim her body in this space. Nudity is one thing – a fearless look at the natural process. Involving fashion is something else entirely – the insistence on people to recognize that she is still herself, even as her body changes.
Chief fashion critic Vanessa Friedman in The New York Times Rihanna’s maternity style is “radical,” And it is in many ways, especially because of the times when we are living collectively. Right now the autonomy of pregnant people is being challenged and limited. With the threat that Rowe vs. Wade will be reversed, we are being indirectly told that what matters most to women is not themselves but to be mothers. Fashion can be a form of resistance and Rihanna clearly knows it. As she told Vogue, “I hope we were able to redefine what is considered ‘decent’ for pregnant women.”
Now that Rihanna has transitioned from pregnancy to motherhood, I look forward to seeing how she moves into her new role, while remaining herself. Rihanna asked me to rethink how I see myself as a pregnant person, and how other people view pregnant people. It is hoped that the message will extend into motherhood itself. We are our own people, we are just developing other people inside us. There should be no erasure in any of them, and Rihanna is helping to make sure that’s not the case.