Delving deeper into the hidden meanings and symbolism of this year's Super Bowl Halftime Show from Barbadian American singer Rihanna.

On Sunday night, the most watched fashion show of New York Fashion Week took place — in Arizona.

I am speaking, of course, of Rihanna’s Super Bowl halftime show, a 13-minute extravaganza of crimson and a pregnancy reveal in the form of workwear, puffers and a breastplate that will probably set maternity trends for the next decade.

If, during her first pregnancy, Rihanna’s style was largely defined by what she didn’t wear (anything that obscured her bump), in State Farm Stadium she was almost entirely covered up. Rihanna has often used fashion as a tool to underscore just who has control over her body, to force confrontation with corporeality. This once again redefined the terms.

In head-to-toe red she shone bright. If not like a diamond, definitely like a ruby: specifically the 19.47-carat Bayco ring she had on one hand. Or like some sort of avant-garde fertility goddess, drenched in a color with all sorts of potent associations related to the female body — especially the pregnant female body. (Also, yes, Valentine’s Day, but she generally thinks more globally than a Hallmark moment.) It painted a picture that could be read from the farthest reaches of the football arena.

(It helped that all of her backup dancers formed a sea of white hoodies.)

Even before the baby news broke, what Rihanna would wear for her first major moment on a giant public stage since 2018 was so hotly anticipated that on the morning of the show not one but two different brands told me confidentially that she was wearing looks they had custom-made for the event — though in the end she pulled a last-minute surprise.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w10zIGtBji4