Pregnant models have their day

By Samantha Critchell
Associated Press

The Liz Lange runway show at the Bryant Park tents in New York last September featured several expecting models. The backstage scene was different, too, with decaffeinated coffee replacing champagne. Associated Press

Casting agents, retailers and magazines in the maternity industry are striving to put a real feel to their "family" photos, says Expecting Models founder Liza Elliott of New York, and they don't get that if they hire a rail-thin model with a pillow strapped to her belly posing with a man she's never met before. And, she adds, a mother is much more successful in getting her own baby to cooperate and coo than a stranger.

"People want to see the truth. They want to see a 5-foot-5 woman who is showing," she says.

Pointing to a recent magazine spread featuring an Expecting Models couple with the husband tenderly touching his wife's swollen tummy, Elliott adds, "You can't fake that."

Elliott has been there, done that. She's a wife, a working mother, a tenacious promoter and a fashion-industry insider. The experience has given her the edge in developing a new business: a modeling agency that exclusively works with pregnant women, their spouses and their children.

Elliott, a professional model for more than a decade, is married to a model (Eric Ramirez) and is the mother of 18-month-old Devon — who already has a Parenting magazine cover to his credit.

The New York-based agency, which Elliott calls her other baby, was born just a few months after her son. It's already landed Gap Maternity, Liz Lange Maternity, Pumpkin Maternity and Fit Pregnancy as accounts.

The idea for this specialized agency came to Elliott while she was pounding the pavement — with her swollen feet — seeking modeling work in the early stages of her own pregnancy. She found touting her tummy eventually paid off.

"I worked more than ever," says Elliott, 32. "In those first months of my pregnancy, I guess I had that glow."

When she started to really gain weight in the fifth or sixth month, she didn't lighten her load. In fact, she says, she became more aggressive, actively pursuing clients on her own since most agencies put their pregnant models on the back burner. "Some agencies don't want their models to be seen, fearing they'll be (labeled) has-beens if they're pregnant."

That leaves many models fearing their careers are over.

But it turns out most of the decision-makers in the maternity industry are women — and many have children of their own, Elliott observes. "I guess you just have to go through it to understand it."

Clients usually have a very realistic expectations of what pregnant models will look like, Elliott says, including the weight, bloating and dark circles under the eyes that could happen at any time. Expecting Models won't represent any pregnant woman who says she's "dieting," because she won't ring true and it sets a bad example.

"You can't hide puffy eyes. Pregnancy is about the package," Elliott says.

Working with pregnant models is different from working with unpregnant models in many ways, says designer Liz Lange. First off, water, decaffeinated coffee and doughnuts replace the champagne and fat-free fare that the fashion industry normally favors, and low-heeled shoes supplant stilettos.

Also, ad campaigns typically are cast months in advance, but the window for maternity campaigns is more like three weeks, she explains. Lange waits that long because she wants to make sure the models she uses are "extremely pregnant and look like it."

Working with women so close to their due dates, however, can present difficulties. They fill out the maternity clothes the way women are supposed to, and the garments hang beautifully on the fuller shapes, Lange says, but women in their ninth month are often too tired to work long multi-day shoots.

But Lange also says she wouldn't have it any other way.

"Pregnancy is a beautiful time in so many ways. I just can't get over how beautiful and magnificent women look when they're so pregnant. ... Their hair looks great, their skin looks great," she gushes.

On the Web:
expectingmodels.com
lizlange.com