It was the PVC mini dress with faux fur pink trench coat that first whipped up a fashion storm. Wearing this divine ensemble that wouldn’t look amiss in Nobu - also wipe clean so truly parent-friendly - at eight months pregnant, the world collectively gasped at Rihanna’s maternity style. What’s this? Not a Breton stripe in sight? Not a hint of an elasticated waist band?
That’s not to mention her brandishing a bare bump on the red carpet - an equivalent maternity moment to rival Liz Hurley’s safety pin dress - and all manner of diamanté accessories that mini Ri Ri was adorned with.
She looked extraordinary throughout her pregnancy. Along with pregnant Game of Thrones actress Sophie Turner who equally refused to settle into a world of dungarees and paisley, and Victoria’s Secret model Adriana Lima, who says that Rihanna ‘opened the door’ for pregnant women, with #BellyOut now trending on social media.
But why is a woman refusing to shift her style for procreation reasons so extraordinary? Why so much trolling? They were both equally rinsed by The Internet for daring to, well, be themselves in those nine months. Even those who liked what they saw were gently judging on the sidelines (“Oh she could pull it off but no, not for me.”)
It’s like the minute a woman gets pregnant the world wants to remove her sexuality and identity in one fell swoop. The number of headlines around a pregnant Rihanna walking around in a pair of shorts rivalled Boris’ party-gate. Headlines like, ‘Pregnant Rihanna hits the shop in sexy shorts and low top’ should have been replaced by ‘Woman goes to shop to buy bog roll’. (One assumes Rihanna has someone to do that, but you get my point).
Cue the power bump. A new era of women who aren’t willing to be parked on the fashion back bench when sperm hits ovum.
For decades women have been expected to succumb to a sea of sack-like rags when they become pregnant. Comfortable, functional, practical, but with a subtext of ‘Your identity is now unidentifiable’. High street stores had a good go at it, but it was still all voluminous maxi dresses and the unrelenting Breton T-shirt.
A new era of pregnant women aren't willing to be parked on the fashion back bench
These clothes don’t even fully represent women navigating the stretch marks and expanding girth of pregnancy. After all, remember the use of fake bumps to model clothes? Back in 2019 models hollered that they lost work the moment they became pregnant because retailers preferred hiring non-pregnant models for maternity wear and stuck a foam bump on them. So, a mother’s potential wardrobe was limited, dowdy and unrepresentative of actual pregnant women. No surprise Rihanna and Sophie chose to stick with their own wardrobes.
Anyone who has been pregnant knows that it’s not just your bump that grows; it’s your boobs, hips, feet and fingers. And yet there we were, buying clothes modelled on foam bumps strapped to size six models. That’s how understanding the fashion industry is of Mother Nature’s biggest task.
Today with celebrities like Rihanna and Adriana refusing to shrink into the style corners, there could finally be pressure on big fashion houses that currently don’t make clothes for pregnant women to get on board. Will they rise to the challenge? More than this being a fashion statement - this is a statement to fashion to start embracing women at every stage of womanhood.
Women don’t suddenly enter a world of nipple teats and maternity bras and park themselves up as waters break. It’s just fashion. And pregnant women are as deserving of wearing what the flip they want as willowy socialites. Power to the bump, indeed.
Anna Whitehouse is appearing on the line-up for this year’s Essex Book Festival (1-30 June) to discuss her latest book Underbelly (Orion).