Why Is Rihanna Getting Racier?

Dec. 16, 2009 — -- Oh hey, Rihanna, are you forgetting something?

A top, perhaps? A bra? Pants?

Lately, it seems like Rihanna's over clothes. Her attire appears ripped from the closet of a dominatrix; her ensembles rival those gyrated around gentleman's clubs. As Rihanna, 21, stepped out against domestic violence following her brutal February beating by her ex-boyfriend, R&B singer Chris Brown, she also stripped down, shedding her once soft-spoken, island-girl image like a snake sloughing off its skin.

What she shows off now appears raw and not ready for the real world.

It's not just the clothes. Judging from Rihanna's recent interviews pegged to the release of her appropriately titled album "Rated R," her penchant for baring (almost) all is inversely proportionate to her willingness to talk about Brown, what happened the night before 2009's Grammy awards, and how she's coping with the aftermath of his attack.