Queen Rihanna and the Art of the Pregnancy Portrait Shoot

Interestingly, the art form known as the “celebrity pregnancy photo shoot” has a new winning entry. Rihanna and ASAP Rocky have announced their first child with the release of a street shot by Miles Diggs, a.k.a., Diggzy, a.k.a., the 20-something photographer named by Vogue as “fashion’s favorite paparazzi.”

The series of pictures , posted on Instagram and sold to a variety of media outlets, including this one, feature Rihanna in a long pink puffer coat with jeweled gold buttons over extra-long ripped jeans puddling in the street and held up by a gold and leather Chanel chain belt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Her stomach, framed by the coat (which British Vogue identified as vintage Chanel, though Chanel declined to comment) and which is closed by a single button at the breastbone, is covered only by a jewel-encrusted costume jewelry cross on a long pearl necklace. Her hands are tucked into the pockets of her jeans, her hair in loose waves. ASAP Rocky is wearing leather pants, a Carhartt denim jacket, hooded varsity sweater and black beanie.

In one photo they are strolling along a Harlem street, seemingly under elevated subway tracks, holding hands; in another he is kissing her on the crown of the head, creating a loving circle of two. In neither does there seem to be anyone else around.

(There is what looks like only a sprinkling of snow on their hair, suggesting the pictures were taken before the weekend’s snowstorm and freezing temperatures, and released on a planned schedule.)

The framing is carefully calculated in its pretend intimacy, both off-duty and on message. “Caught” so that you get the sense you are getting a peek into a private moment, though in a way that has been entirely choreographed down to the vintage diamond signet ring on her finger.

In this, the Rihanna snap is the latest stage in a photographic tradition that can be traced back to the Demi Moore pregnancy cover on Vanity Fair in 1991.