How Rihanna’s Stylist Crafted Her Super Bowl Look—While Keeping Her Pregnancy a Secret

Rihanna knows how to make a memorable moment. The musician and mogul began her Super Bowl LVII halftime show suspended on a raised platform 60 feet above the ground, clad in a striking all-red look designed by Alaïa and Loewe. The second she rubbed what appeared to be a slight baby bump, the Internet was set ablaze with speculation on whether the superstar was expecting her second child or not (she is, her publicist confirmed that night). The halftime show, then, became an epic pregnancy reveal—and it was a secret that her stylist Jahleel Weaver had to keep during final fittings. “That was the hardest thing to manoeuvre around—the privacy and secrecy,” Weaver says. “She didn’t tell me until three weeks before [the Super Bowl]. She finally told me when we were reviewing sketches, and I was like, ‘Is this a joke?’”

While Weaver’s preparations for the Super Bowl began all the way back in December, the stylist didn’t know about Rihanna’s pregnancy until three weeks before the show. Even before, Weaver says the pair knew they wanted to work with Alaïa and Loewe. “We approached them,” says Weaver. “We started thinking about designers that we love, who we haven’t worked with on a deeper scale.” 

They landed on a bodysuit with a moulded breast bustier from Loewe, with two different Alaïa coats worn on top throughout the performance, as well as Alaïa gloves. “[The bodysuit] was a play on a piece that Rih and I really liked from Loewe’s spring 2022 collection, and Jonathan [Anderson] proposed doing it in leather,” says Weaver. As for the striking coats—one short and one floor-length—Weaver knew they wanted to work with Alaïa, who also designed her Super Bowl press conference look. “I love what Alaïa does so much, and so does Rih,” says Weaver. “We knew that whatever they were going to come up with was going to fit to perfection.”