Holy guacamole, I didn't even know Grace Jones was pregnant.
But sure enough, she and her over-the-top stylist boyfriend Jean-Paul Goude had a baby boy in December 1979. The couple told Jet Magazine [damn, but I love the Internet], they were calling the kid "The Rhythm Baby," because "every time a certain kind of music blared from the stereo, the fetus jumps." Did Jet think to ask what kind of music that was? No. But that's not important now.
What's important is that Jet also heard from Ms. Jones's people that she was "having a Puerto Rican designer, Antonio Lopez, design a line of maternity clothes exclusively for her--and one 'outrageous' costume for an upcoming television show her publicists won't identify."
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that they were talking about the outfit we now know as the Constructivist Maternity Dress, which is now apparently to be included in a show opening at the V&A in London, Postmodernism: Style & Subversion 1970-1990. A caption here and there do mention Lopez's name, but just as frequently, Goude is the only one credited with the dress.
Now, I'm not gonna be the guy to deny that Goude had a formative, even foundational role in the creation of Jones' iconic look. But the V&A better not sell Lopez short. The dude discovered Jerry Hall, for Pete's sake.
update: Why is it that I can't just post the picture of the crazy maternity dress and be done with it? Maybe because I saw the Bill Cunningham documentary the other day, and Antonio was about as close to the love of his life as Cunningham had, and so I am feeling really Team Cunningham at the moment and maybe have a little less patience with credit-hogging fashionista shenanigans? Maybe. Anyway, Constructivist Maternity Dress, WTF?!
automatic headline generator? Grace Jones is a slave to the rhythm of postmodernism [independent.co.uk via someone on twitter, i think]
Grace Jones cuddles granddaughter?? [crushable]
Nothing says I'm pregnant like exclamation points and a fan. JK!