Libby Hobday

Years ago when a company needed to shoot a media piece with a pregnant model they used fake structures under the clothes to make it look like the model was pregnant, that doesn’t really happen anymore thanks to people like supermodel Heidi Klum helping to establish the modern day “maternity model”.

I have been lucky enough to sign with a top agency here in New York City for maternity modeling, and what a pleasant and eye opening journey it has been. It is very different to when I modeled for Chadwick Management in Australia where I had to be a skinny girl! With maternity modeling it is always about making your tummy look bigger - the bigger your tummy the more work you get. Of course your tummy has to be the only part of your body that grows, I still have to work out, eat healthy and look after myself to be able to do the job I currently am doing.

Every 4 weeks I have to go to the agency and have digital pictures taken in a bikini which are uploaded to the agency web site, this way the clients can see what your tummy looks like currently and how you are progressing with the pregnancy. A lot of big companies - like GAP for example - book the models months in advance for shoots. There is obviously only a short window to model though and most of the work comes in one’s third trimester (mine having started 2 weeks ago).

Yesterday I shot my first print/feature for Parents Magazine, it was so bizarre to walk on set with toys, kids, expectant mums and baby and maternity clothes. It was really cool, and very different to any other set I have ever been on. Hopefully over the next 10 weeks I book a lot more jobs.

Either way, I am sure to be one of the Mums on set with their baby models as one of the really cool things about the agency that I am signed with is that my unborn Son is also signed as a model for the first 12 months of his life….. I am sure he will not mind.

*My digital Comp Card at 20 weeks, 10 weeks on my tummy is way bigger now!