Everything about More Demi Moore totally explained
More Demi Moore or the August 1991
Vanity Fair cover was a controversial
handbra nude photograph of the then seven-months
pregnant Demi Moore taken by
Annie Leibovitz for the August 1991 cover of
Vanity Fair to accompany a
cover story about Moore. One of several parodies of the image was used for advertising (1994) that led to the 1998
Second Circuit fair use case
Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp. In each of the subsequent two years, Moore made follow-up cover appearances on
Vanity Fair, the first of which propelled
Joanne Gair to prominence as a
trompe-l'œil body painter.
The cover has had a lasting societal impact. Since the cover was released, several celebrities have posed for photographs in advanced stages of pregnancy, although not necessarily as naked as Moore. This trend has made pregnancy photos fashionable and created a booming business. and it's one of Leibovitz's best known works. In addition to popularizing pregnancy photographs and being satirically parodied, there has been backlash surrounding the photo because it spawned criticism. Critical opinions rated it as an artistic statement or grotesque and obscene. It was also seriously considered when
internet decency standards were first being legislated and adjudicated.
Background
In 1991, Demi Moore was a budding
A-list movie star who had been married to
Bruce Willis since 1987. The couple had had their first child
Rumer Willis in 1988, and they'd hired three photographers for an audience of six friends for the delivery. Willis was already an A-list star, having earned $10 million for both
Look Who's Talking (1989) and
Look Who's Talking Too (1990) as well as $5 million for
Die Hard (1989) and $7.5 million for
Die Hard 2 (1990).
Annie Leibovitz had been chief photographer at
Rolling Stone from 1973 until 1983, when she moved to
Vanity Fair. In 1991, she'd the first mid-career show,
Annie Leibovitz Photographs 1970-1990, ever given a photographer by the
National Portrait Gallery in, with a similarly titled accompanying book.. The show traveled to
New York City at the
International Center of Photography for a showing that would run until
December 1 1991.
Details
The photograph was one of several taken by Leibovitz of seven-months pregnant 28-year-old Moore, then carrying the couple's second daughter, Scout LaRue. The photographs ranged from Moore in
lacy underwear and
spiked high heels, to a revealing
peignoir.
Samuel Irving Newhouse, Jr., chairman of
Conde Nast Publications, was very supportive of the chosen cover despite the potential for lost sales.
Tina Brown,
Vanity Fair editor, quickly realized that there would be harsh backlash for regular distribution of the magazine; the issue had to be wrapped in a white envelope with only Moore's eyes visible. However, Brown viewed the image as a chance to make a statement about the decade of the 1990s after a decade dominated by
power suits.
The use of a pregnant sex symbol was in a sense an attempt to combat the
pop culture representations of the anathema of the awkward, uncomfortable, and grotesquely excessive female form in a culture that values thinness. The contemporary retrospective view of some is that this photograph is "high art". The intent of the photograph was to portray pregnancy with a celebrity in a way that was bold, proud and understated in a "anti-Hollywood, anti-glitz" manner.
The photo isn't only considered one of Leibovitz's most famous, but also an almost mythical representation. It is the first photo mentioned in the
New York Times review of Leibovitz's exhibition
Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005 at the
Brooklyn Museum and it's contrasted with another of her female pregnancy photographs (of
Melania Trump).
In 2007, Moore stated that the picture wasn't originally intended for publication. She had posed in a personal photo session, not a cover shoot. Leibovitz has had personal photo sessions of Moore and all of her daughters.
Legal issues
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The photograph was
parodied on several occasions, including the
computer-generated Spy magazine version, which placed Willis' head on Moore's body. In
Leibovitz v. Paramount Pictures Corp., Leibovitz sued over one parody featuring
Leslie Nielsen, made to promote the 1994 film . In the parody, the model's body was used and "the guilty and smirking face of Mr. Nielsen appeared above". The
teaser said "Due this March". The case was dismissed in 1996 because the parody relied "for its comic effect on the contrast between the original".
Other issues
When the
internet arose as a popular and important medium and the
United States Supreme Court issued a ruling on the
Communications Decency Act of 1996 (CDA), Moore's image was described as a sort of litmus test to determine if the law could be reasonably applied in the current environment by the trial court. When
John Paul Stevens' rendered an
opinion over a year later, the image was still on the minds of legal scholars.
Fifteen years later the photo continued to be parodied. In 2006, graffiti artist
Banksy used a
Simpsons-like character to replace Moore's head for a promotion in . He illegally posted the parody around Los Angeles to promote his
website and his exhibition.
Follow-ups
In the
Demi's Birthday Suit August 1992 issue of
Vanity Fair, Moore was shown on the cover in the
body painting photo by
Joanne Gair. The painting is the best-known example of modern body painting artwork. It made Gair an immediate
pop culture star as the most prominent body paint artist, which prompted consideration for an
Absolut Vodka Absolut Gair ad campaign. The 1992 cover, which required a thirteen-hour sitting for Gair and her team of make-up artists, was a commemoration of the August 1991 photo. Leibovitz couldn't decide where to shoot, and reserved two mobile homes, four hotel rooms and five houses.
In December 1993, Moore was again on the cover of
Vanity Fair, but this time she was dressed in two straps and a large red
bow and was sitting on
David Letterman's lap while he was dressed up as
Santa Claus. She also appeared on the cover of
Harper's Bazaar in June 2006.
Newsweek referred to the pose more than a decade later as if it was the photographic posing technique, and
The New York Times coined "demiclad" for the nude pregnant
handbra pose. Eventually,
Vogue and
Harper's Bazaar included pregnant cover models, and
Star included a pregnant foursome of
Katie Holmes,
Gwen Stefani,
Gwyneth Paltrow and
Angelina Jolie. They also had a "Bump Brigade" of
Jennie Garth,
Maggie Gyllenhaal and
Sofia Coppola.
Vogue had a very pregnant 37-year-old
Brooke Shields on the cover of its April 2003 issue. By the time
Linda Evangelista appeared pregnant (and clothed) on the August 2006 cover of
Vogue, pregnancy wasn't the emphasis of the story. However, even at the end of 2007 appearing bare-bellied and pregnant on the cover of a magazine, as
Christina Aguilera did for
Marie Claire, was still considered a derivative of Moore's original. A commemoration of the photo was a self-portrait by Leibovitz in which she appeared in profile and pregnant for her
A Photographer's Life exhibition.
Myleene Klass posed for a similar nude pregnant photo for
Glamour magazine in 2007.
Legacy
The photo has had long cultural and social impact in the U.S. Many women feel that the rush of celebrities taking pregnant photos has made taking such photos glamorous for pregnant mothers. As the photos have become more common on magazine covers the business of documenting pregnancies photographically has boomed. Furthermore, the photo is critically acclaimed. Almost fifteen years after its publication it was listed as the second best magazine cover of the last forty years by the American Society of Magazine Editors.
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