Another one bares her bump

So, you might not know who this lovely lass is but she's the latest wife of Flavio Briatore, the same man who inexplicably has gotten with the hottest women in the world, including Heidi Klum (he is the father of her daughter, Leni). Anyway, his new wife, Elisabetta Gregoraci, 28 (and 30 years younger than Flavio), the former Wonderbra model recently posed preggo and in lingerie for Italy's Chi magazine.

Gregoraci said she decided to pose in order to 'stand up for other mothers'...um, whatever that means.

K.Wilkinson preggo photo shoot

You can take the girl out of Playboy, but you can't take Playboy outta the girl.

“I’ve been hornier! We’ll be off-roading, and we’ll go at it in the bushes somewhere! Or we’ll be driving, and he’ll pull over. Quickies are the best! If he lasts any more than a couple of minutes, I’m like, ‘I’m done!’ I’m not joking: I’ll stop.”

Tokyo preggos go nude

It's hard to believe that back in 2006, the image of Britney 'doing a Demi' for Harper's Bazaar was actually banned from display in Tokyo subway stations for being 'too stimulating'. A censored version with a big black band hovering over Brit's bump was used instead.

Being naked and pregnant, however, has suddenly become more popular with Japanese women. Apparently, a Japanese pop star called Hitomi posed naked and pregnant in an album photo in June 2008. According to local media, the picture was displayed on large billboards over busy streets in Tokyo and the related photo book became a bestseller, selling more than 10,000 copies in its first week of publication.

Now mums-to-be pay around 35,000 yen ($368.20) for a studio photo shoot, which takes less than two hours in "Ixchel."

"Before this boom, women didn't know where to go to take these kinds of pictures even though they wanted to. Because of media attention, they easily found our studio," said Natsuko Takada, the owner of photo studio "Ixchel."

This is really interesting because when I was in Tokyo in January 2007 I found absolutely no images of Japanese pregnant women who were showing skin. Maternity clothes were really dowdy and all of the parenting/pregnancy magazines targeted to young women used cartoons and other really childish images to talk about being a mother. Being a 'sexy' mum was definitely not culturally appropriate. Interestingly, as I noted in a post at the time, the only images of motherhood that were even remotely 'racy' were of Euro-American pregnant models.

Dress your bump in nothing at all

Because I know what you're going to be wearing in your third trimester.....the folks at San Diego's Rock 105.3 think you should proudly show everyone?

Considering most women in their third trimester have enough trouble just trying to find shoes that actually fit, I guess a bikini contest eliminates all the hassle of dressing at all.

Read more and photos: Pregnant Bikini Contest

Another belly on parade...

*Yawn* News is that Nicole Kidman has already posed nude and pregnant and will appear on some magazine cover. Shot by Patrick Demarchelier, the most famous fashion photographer in the world. Im not sure what annoys me more; the fact that Nicole Kidman is posing nude or the fact that her face doesn't move when she smiles? Either way, get a new hobby ladies, nude and pregnant is so 5 minutes ago.

I didn't think this day would come, but it has. I'm over naked and pregnant. I don't get my nerdy researcher thrill anymore to find magazine covers littered with preggos, dreaming up all of the articles I can write. Naked and preggo is a very bizarre cultural phenomenon because for the most part, as much as we think we care about how celebs look when they're pregnant (in terms of how fat or thin they look), the truth is that the term 'baby bump' that has taken over our pop culture is about the 'baby' and not about the woman. Naked and preggo mag covers were groundbreaking because they were meant to put the woman back into increasingly medicalised images of pregnancy (hello foetus!) but the truth is they just reinforce all of the crappy cultural norms that we see in mainstream fashion photography; women need to be smooth and 'thin' in order to be beautiful naked. Now surely you're thinking how on earth can a pregnant woman be thin? Well, just look around. Most celebs are 'thin' and pregnant, no extra skin anywhere.

So I'm over naked and pregnant. Bring back the dowdy pinafores with weird ruffles and oversized bows. Or photos of preggo celebs with clothes on. At least they made for more interesting photos and a little something was left to the imagination. Sometimes I think that the reason all of these celebs want to pose naked and pregnant is not because they are 'celebrating' their fabulous birthing bodies. Rather, they are just proving to the world that they aren't 'fat' and they are still hot.

It's Friday in Melbourne. I'm tired. Perhaps I'll re-evaluate this post when I've slept for more than 4 hours.

Source: http://www.news.com.au/entertainment/story/0,23663,23740914-7485,00.html

Ange does a Demi

You heard it here first.

What does every pregnant celeb do to prove that a mummy is still yummy?

That's right. A magazine cover!

Ange is posing on the cover of the July issue of Vanity Fair shot by Patrick Demarchelier including a 12 page spread inside a la Demi.

Can't wait!










Source: http://www.nypost.com/seven/05162008/gossip/pagesix/we_hear_______111066.htm

Javine does a Demi

Brit singer Javine Hylton is doing it just like Demi; naked and pregnant, that is. As opposed to the celebs like Christina and Mylene who blabbed on about how gorgeous and sexy they felt when they were on the brink of birth, Javine says:

'I'm usually 67kg (10st 7lb), but I've put on 19kg (3st). My bum's got really big – it has its own little personality'.

Source: http://www.metro.co.uk/fame/article.html?in_article_id=93078&in_page_id=7

Pregnant with Christmas cheer

What better way to celebrate Christmas than with another (semi) naked and pregnant celebrity?

Yulia Volkova of the controversial Russian girl group, Tatu, poses with Lena Katina clad only in a bra and undies for the Russian version of Maxim.

"We have many girls are using pregnancy as an excuse to look worse — as if it were a disease," Volkova told Maxim. "A pregnant girl can be sexual!"

How's that for a stocking stuffer?

Source: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=339969

Sabrina the Teenage Witch: knocked up and naked

And yet again, another celebrity shamelessly jumps on the naked and pregnant bandwagon. It is unclear why Melissa Joan Hart has done this photo shoot and I wasn't able to find any info about whether this will appear in a magazine..but apparently, she's in a race with Christina to see who can sex up pregnancy the best.

Pregnant and naked, just like Christina

Well it didn't take long for a a newspaper to try and get pregnant women to reprise Christina's pregnant spread (which hits newsstands 16 December). The Sun interviews each of the women pictured about their pregnant bodies, gaining weight and how they feel about Aguilera's centrefold.

I have to say that the amount of press Christina's magazine cover has generated is not surprising but it's a bit of a shame. When the magazine comes out, there will be no joy...everyone has seen all of the photos everyday for the last week. I would have much preferred to walk into a shop, see the magazine cover, get all excited and purchase it immediately, if not sooner. I will still purchase the mag but pregnant and naked is a little overdone these days.

Check out the pregnant profiles here: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/woman/article544840.ece

Kim Raver: just a bump with no head

Kim Raver from the American show Lipstick Jungle has posed nude and 7 months pregnant for a new Vaseline ad debuting in the October editions of Vanity Fair, Vogue, Self and Glamour magazines. The quote at the bottom says:

'Pregnancy, in particular, makes you appreciate your skin and want to take care of it. I'm so that, as my body grows, my skin stretches and stretches. I'm in awe of how elastic it is'.

Of the ad campaign, Raver says:

'I feel a lot more comfortable getting naked than I do when I’m not pregnant'

Again, why is it necessary for women to be disembodied in advertising? Raver is just a belly with no head, an object to be looked it. She's not portrayed as a 'mother-to-be', she is a body on display. Strange that the quote at the bottom is meant to imply that she is 'talking' about her own body but her 'mind' and 'body' are quite literally disconnected by gaze of the camera.

And doesn't it break your heart that women can't feel good about their bodies unless they are 'big' for a reason?