Rihanna graced the Oscars with her presence and showcased her maternity style at its most glamorous tonight. She stepped out on the red carpet in custom leather band dress by Alaia with seductive side slits, worn over a jersey bodysuit. She accessorized with dangling earrings and Giuseppe Zanotti heels, and wore her hair in a sleek updo.
Rihanna is performing during the ceremony, singing her nominated song “Lift Me Up” from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. Rihanna confirmed the news on her Instagram on March 5 while sharing a new photo of her and Rocky’s first child. “My son when he found out his sibling is going to the Oscars and not him @theacademy #oscarnominee #oscarperformancein1week swipe for tb of my fat man,” Rihanna wrote.
Rihanna discussed making “Lift Me Up” to Vogue in November 2022, saying that after welcoming her first baby boy in May 2022, she was motivated to go back to the studio for this project.
“I took a little break, and then came back, and now I’m back outside,” she said. She added that fatigue looks different for her as a parent. “I used to get tired and just push through and keep going. This is a tired that you have no control over it. Your body is shutting down. And just recently I pushed through three days at the studio in a row—like, slept in the studio—to get a song done because it’s a project that’s really important to me coming out. I believed it, and I wanted to be a part of it, so I got it done.”
“Everything is stimulating,” she said then. “Everything right now is firing off. I’m excited. It’s getting me super-motivated, super-energized to do new things, to create, and I’m back in the studio and now we’re going to be back on stage for the Super Bowl. Which is just crazy that I even agreed to that, but I am, and I’m excited. Of course being a new mom is insane. It is lovely. It is epic, honestly.”
Senior News and Strategy Editor
Alyssa Bailey is the senior news and strategy editor at ELLE.com, where she oversees coverage of celebrities and royals (particularly Meghan Markle and Kate Middleton). She previously held positions at InStyle and Cosmopolitan. When she’s not working, she loves running around Central Park, making people take #ootd pics of her, and exploring New York City.