Written by Duana

There’s a thing that happens wherein people talk about how glamorous our mothers looked when they were pregnant, and lament that people are now wear leggings and so forth. That’s half due, I suspect, to the fact that depending on how old you are, your mother might have been holding a Betty-Draper style cigarette and or lounging in something orange, because that’s what happened in the 1970s.

But I kind of think that’s not true. I really like the Heidi-Klum approach to pregnancy, the whole “I’m not ashamed of this bump so let’s swath it in spandex” attitude. I can appreciate that it takes a certain amount of height to pull that off, but… I remain perplexed by Natalie’s choice here.

I’m sure it’s made by someone important, and indeed I’m sure it’s made of the silk dreams that little girls whisper into clouds and pillows. But I don’t think it makes Portman look like anything except a ‘Virgin Suicides’ extra at a party, and I don’t think it either hides the pregnancy nor exalts it. And she’s smiling so goofily, like she can still play it off. Look, everyone makes sartorial missteps, but she’s made a few recently, and she knows all eyes are on her. What’s the strategy?

I guess the question becomes, at what point can you no longer rely on being cute to paste over a sartorial mistake? Because I wonder if that time approaches, given that her motherhood and 30th birthday are both imminent….


Photos from Alexandra Wyman/John Shearer/Gettyimages.com