EDITOR’S NOTE: Featuring the good, the bad and the ugly, ‘Look of the Week’ is a regular series dedicated to unpacking the most talked about outfit of the last seven days.
In a post-Rihanna world, we all like to talk about how maternity wear — or at least the expectations of how pregnant women should dress — is forever changed. Rihanna, after all, when carrying each of her three children wore exactly what she might have done were she not pregnant at all: rather than elasticated waistbands and drab smocks, she was seen in lace bodysuits, corsets, crop tops and mini-skirts.
Anne Hathaway’s maternity style reawakens her online trolls
Online trolls commenting on Anne Hathaway’s recent red carpet look for her latest film “The End of Oak Street” signals our progressive way of thinking about pregnancy fashion is still very much in its infancy.
Baby bumps have become certified red carpet accessories. Celebrities wear their bellies popping out of keyhole cut outs in second-skin gowns, as was the case with Adriana Lima’s Cannes red carpet run in 2022; decorated with gold leaf, like Ciara at “The Color Purple” premiere in 2023 or framed inside a puffy Schiaparelli two-piece, like Sienna Miller’s pregnancy announcement at Vogue World that same year. Meanwhile, shopping habits are changing. Lyst data suggested that searches for maternity clothes have dropped by as much as 45%. We are in a brave new world of bump dressing, defined by our own tastes and identities. Hurray! Or are we?
Maybe not, if the response to Anne Hathaway’s latest red carpet look for the premiere of “The End of Oak Street” in Burbank, California is anything to go by.
The actor arrived in a regal sky blue high-neck top with a long cascading train and clashing red lining — custom designed by Prabal Gurung — offset with a casual pair of low slung, non-maternity jeans by La Ligne that skimmed just under her bump. Hathaway, who is pregnant with her third child and has called this baby her “buzzer beater” in reference to being 43 years old, has until now dressed more conservatively during the press tour for “The Odyssey” with flowy empire waist gowns by Prada and Dior, as well as full-coverage jersey dresses by emerging brands like Ashlyn. But when she did expose the lower third of her bump over the weekend, a noisy online crowd of people found the outfit choice controversial.
As the sight of Hathaway’s belly went viral, it was clear that some were not above judging a woman’s appearance during what can be one of the most vulnerable stages of her life. One of the loudest, and most bizarre, assessments even accused the actor of faking her pregnancy with a prosthetic. Such a claim might have held more weight in 18th century England, when false bumps were once very much in vogue and “pads” could be bought and worn by anyone to mimic the shape of an expectant stomach under a fashionable dress.
Big Style: Where culture meets clothing
- CNN senior style reporter and advanced outfit anthropologist Rachel Tashjian excavates the stylish amusements and contextualizes the world of fashion – all in your inbox. Sign up for Big Style here.
But Hathaway was undeterred, and the following day wore another belly-baring outfit to a taping of Jimmy Kimmel Live. As she waved to the paparazzi, her stomach was encased in a waterfall of black ruffles by a brand called Lein. She even played off the online conspiracy theory in her latest Instagram post, captioned “fake hair, real bump.”
Still, this level of criticism over a pregnant woman’s red carpet outfit in 2026 is surprising. If nothing else, it was a telling sign that our new, progressive way of thinking about pregnancy fashion is still very much in its infancy.
