Redesigning Maternity Wear: Turning the Expectant Stomach into a Fashion Statement
Rihanna, the pop superstar and fashion icon, is making headlines once again for her bold and high-fashion maternity style. As she prepares to welcome her third child, Rihanna is setting new standards in maternity fashion, embracing her pregnancy with glamour and confidence.
In a recent appearance at the Sydney premiere, Rihanna donned an elegant, floor-length stretch dress from Balmain, featuring a transparent insert at the waistline. This outfit, along with her other maternity looks, combines elevated casualwear like striped Miu Miu pieces and sneakers with couture fashion moments from brands like Saint Laurent and lace designs, maintaining a glamorous, confident look with belly-baring outfits. Rihanna even includes her family in coordinated luxury looks, indicating a new era of maternity style where pregnancy is showcased as a fashion moment rather than hidden.
Vanessa Kirby, the acclaimed British actress, is also part of this modern maternity style shift. Known for her practical yet chic choices, Kirby often favours oversized tailoring and bump-accentuating fits, reflecting how current maternity fashion embraces both comfort and elegant structure. Kirby recently showcased this style on the press tour for her new film "Fantastic Four: First Steps," wearing a cut-out dress from Alaïa with bondage details, a direct homage to a dress Rihanna wore during her second pregnancy at the Oscars 2023.
More broadly, maternity fashion in 2025 trends towards stylish, true-to-size, and bump-friendly designs. Brands like Ingrid + Isabel and PinkBlush offer modern collections that avoid the dated "maternity" look, focusing instead on versatile pieces that work during and after pregnancy, including coordinated sets, shirred blouses, and tailored trousers. Additional style elements include incorporating high-quality fabrics with flattering patterns and layering options such as knitted vests and belted wide jeans, reflecting an effort to elevate everyday maternity wear into polished and wearable outfits for various occasions.
Rihanna's philosophy for maternity styling is to celebrate and showcase the baby bump, refusing to hide it as a flaw. This approach, which she has demonstrated at the Met Gala and Super Bowl, has rewritten the rules of maternity fashion. Forbes magazine has characterised Rihanna's approach as an extension of her career, a testament to her influence in the fashion industry.
In a 2024 interview with the BBC, Rihanna stated, "If it fits, it works." This mantra encapsulates the new approach to maternity fashion, where comfort and style go hand in hand. The new maternity dressing is an expression of a modern mindset, emphasizing that pregnant women deserve to be beautiful, visible, sensual, and strong.
As Rihanna and Vanessa Kirby continue to break traditional maternity stereotypes, they are inspiring a new generation of expectant mothers to embrace their pregnancies with confidence and style. Maternity fashion is no longer a bothersome side note, but a stage for confident statements from expectant mothers. The future of maternity fashion is bright, and these two icons are leading the way.
- Rihanna and Vanessa Kirby, both celebrities, are revolutionizing the maternity fashion industry by embracing high-fashion styles in their pregnancies, reinventing the conventional notion of maternity wear.
- Maternity fashion in 2025 is focusing on stylish, comfortable, and versatile designs that flatter the baby bump, as seen in brands like Ingrid + Isabel and PinkBlush.
- The philosophy of embracing one's pregnancy as a fashion moment, rather than hiding it, has been championed by Rihanna in her bold and glamorous maternity outfits, earning her acclaim in the fashion world.
