Adriana Lima shows off baby bump on Cannes red carpet

CNN/Stylemagazine.com Newswire | 5/19/2022, 10:06 a.m.
At the Cannes film festival premiere of Joseph Kosinski's "Top Gun: Maverick" on Wednesday, former Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima …
Former Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima, is pictured at the screening of "Top Gun: Maverick," showing her baby bump in a custom-made Balmain look. Mandatory Credit: Gisela Schober/German Select/Getty

Originally Published: 19 MAY 22 07:37 ET

Updated: 19 MAY 22 07:40 ET

Leah Dolan, CNN

(CNN) -- At the Cannes film festival premiere of Joseph Kosinski's "Top Gun: Maverick" on Wednesday, former Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima became the latest celebrity to turn maternity fashion on its head.

Dressed in a custom-made Balmain gown and without a jewel in sight, Lima's primary red carpet accessory was her pregnant belly. The black pleated dress wrapped around her body, with the draped skirt perfectly framing the model's stomach.

Lima, who is pregnant with her third child, announced in 2018 that she was retiring from Victoria's Secret after joining the brand as an angel in 1999. Earlier this year, the Brazilian model walked for Alexander Wang's controversial comeback show wearing a range of similar cut-out looks that showed off her baby bump.

Lima's Cannes outfit is a close follow to a series of high fashion, mold-breaking looks from Rihanna, beginning when she and rapper A$AP Rocky announced they were expecting their first child via a paparazzi-style photoshoot in New York in February. In the widely circulated photos, Rihanna's unmistakable bump was exposed by an unbuttoned vintage Chanel puffer and dripping with $5,000 jewels from Christian Lacroix.

In May, during her third trimester, the musician and entrepreneur made headlines again when she appeared on the cover of Vogue. In an accompanying interview, Rihanna spoke out about the restrictive nature of traditional maternity fashion. "My body is doing incredible things right now, and I'm not going to be ashamed of that," she said. "This time should feel celebratory. Because why should you be hiding your pregnancy?"

While Rihanna has become synonymous with bold pregnancy-wear this year, other celebrities have offered similarly daring looks in the past. In 2017, Beyoncé revealed she was carrying twins in a high-art photoshoot by Awol Erizku. The image, which shows the singer shrouded in a mesh veil and kneeling in front of a flower arch, was briefly the most-liked Instagram photo ever. And in 1991, it was actress Demi Moore who made pop culture history when she posed nude while seven months pregnant for the cover of Vanity Fair. Recently Moore reflected on the impact of her trailblazing cover: "Every time I see someone posing like that, I am so excited," she told Entertainment Tonight. "because I really do think it's one of the most beautiful times in our lives."