'09
Rihanna is the cover girl for Italian Vogue, and the photo shoot is ridiculous. It was done by famed fashion photographer Stephen Klein. I can’t imagine this stuff was Klein’s idea, though. I sincerely hope a photographer of his stature didn’t go to Rihanna and say “Hey, you know how your boyfriend beat the hell out of you? Let’s reference that cryptically with a fashion shoot in which you’re bound and muzzled!” I have to think that part of this was Rihanna’s idea – her take on being edgy, high-fashion and a weird attempt to “challenge” people.
Some of the images from the layout aren’t that bad, really. I think the idea behind it was submission and dominance, with Rihanna playing both sides. In some of the photos she looks sexually empowered, with what appears to be a riding crop, dramatic power-shoulders and a shoe-fetishists wet dream in campy, awesome boots.
Beyond the “bound and gagged” image, there are two that stand out to me as being terribly uncool. One is a very dark, disturbing image where Rihanna is on her hands and knees. The other one is where Rihanna is topless (wearing sparkly pasties) and camera is shooting her from below. Now, I know the photographer probably didn’t have to talk her into anything – she probably volunteered for the “outfits” and poses – but it still feels like a young woman with her own issues with violence is being exploited in some way. That’s just how it seemed to me.
Written by Kaiser
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24 Responses to “Rihanna gets bound & muzzled in sketchy Italian Vogue photo shoot”
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It looks like they photoshopped the hell out of her legs. Don’t get me wrong, I think she’s gorgeous, and has a very nice curvy figure. But even this looks over done.
However, she still looks great in these photos!
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i love me some rhi-rhi…but she looks like a zombie. same dead look in her eyes in each photo… her mouth half opened… weak.
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she’s oh so edgy (yawn)
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You get beat up once and sympathy is extended.
But now she’s exploiting sex and violence as a career move.
Not good.
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I am so incredibly bored with and sick of her.
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I think that this is RiRi’s way to get us to stop focusing on the fact that she was ‘Chris Browned’; she wants the public to move past it. So what better way to get us to move on than to do a shocking, avant-garde, edgy,newsworthy, photo-shoot for a magazine renowned for it’s edgy fashion by a famed photographer?
The photos look like Grace Jones meets Lady GaGa circa 2021, but I like them. I see a bit of the D/s that Kaiser mentioned, but really I just see a young woman who is reveling in her sexuality and trying to come across as edgy. It has, however, all been done before and better.
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I’m so done with this girl. Its obvious she doesn’t have her head on right. I want no part of it.
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Don’t care much for her anymore, but these photos are gorgeous! Would love to know who the stylist and photographer are for this shoot.
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You over-analyze EVERYTHING. Jeez.
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I think Rihanna’s gorgeous but these just gross me out.
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@ Wow
the photographer was Stephen Klein, like Kaiser mentioned.
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Grace Jones she aint.
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I think you are overestimating the influence she could have on the shoot. She is a star, yeah, but it’s not likely that they gave her creative control here. Shoot stylists and photographers are visual professionals, RiRi is a singer. Very few celebrities get a say in the style of a magazine spread…
It’s possible they were making a play off the domestic violence scenario, but to me it really speaks more of sexual kink. And you have to admit that long before the CB thing she was playing off her ‘edginess’, so this really seems like more of that. For example, I didn’t find the hands-and-knees image dark or disturbing; she looks more predator than prey.
If we want the media to stop seeing her as a victim all the time we have to stop looking for it in everything she does.
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The main point for me is that I’ve lost a lot of respect for Rihanna. I don’t know what she was going through, so I’m not going to pretend like I do, but she has always come off as this strong, edgy and confident girl but after everything that happened with Chris Brown, it’s hard to accept and believe that image about her anymore. Now when she uses this image of edginess and tries to appear confident in herself and her sexuality, it’s harder to believe.
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A whole lot of make up, breast implants, nose job and a photoshop diet would make anyone look good
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Awful.
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“Ooooh look at me , I’m controversial and edgy !!”
-NOT-
“Hey, my music is great and my performances are memorable and inspiring !”
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Oh, is that Rihanna? And here I thought it was some kind of zombie/robot/hooker. Oops, my bad.
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I went thru way more than what she did and these “bondage” pictures makes me ill. Grow up girl-at last you had an easy way out-money,power,etc
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“I want to be a non-conformist … just like everybody else”
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I’m not getting any domestic violence vibe from these photos, I have to say; there’s no violence of any kind. It’s purely that it’s a photoshoot featuring a famous victim of domestic violence, and any image that did anything but celebrate her freedom and power as a sexy independent female etc etc will be seen as diminishing her. So when she poses in (really, pretty tame) bondage and fetish wear, it rings bells with some viewers.
My reaction, though, is my reaction to anything Rihanna does: dull, dull, dull. Sorry, but I don’t get the fuss about this girl. Whenever I see or hear her I get the sense of looking at a mannequin, no energy, no life of its own. The look in her eyes in these pictures is not POWER or SEXAY or FIERCE or EDGY or ANYTHING AT ALL. It’s the look of a girl saying, “Is this okay? Am I doing it right?”
It’s always seemed to me like she’s gotten a reputation for being edgy just because she got a funky haircut. Sorry, but a sharp ‘do does not a Grace Jones make.
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Just. No.
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Umm, so given Naomi Campbell’s recent complaints about black models getting less work, where does this classify? Or does Rihanna not count because she’s a singer?
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