Models Walking the Runway While Pregnant

When you think of models on the runway, you probably don’t think of pregnant women. But if the last few years have taught us anything, it’s that New York Fashion Week is surprisingly bump-friendly. Ashley Graham welcomed baby boy Isaac only a few months after becoming the first pregnant model to walk a Tommy Hilfiger show. And Slick Woods gave birth to her son mere hours after strutting down the Savage x Fenty runway in 2018 — she was in labor during the show!

Of course, not all pregnant models who’ve walked the runway have chosen to put their baby bump on full display. In fact, there are likely quite a few models who walked in NYFW when they were preggers that we’ll never even know about. Some, like Irina Shayk, hid their baby bumps while on the runway but chose to open up about their exciting news after the fact.

Bottom line? Mamas can do hard things. That includes giving birth, of course, but it also includes strutting their stuff in stilettos while balancing their beautiful baby bumps. Keep scrolling to see which models have walked at NYFW with a bun in the oven and, in the process, proven that nothing (not even haute couture) can compete with the glow of an expectant mama.

A version of this article was originally published September 2020.

Constance Jablonski

Image Credit: Richard Bord/Getty Images.

French supermodel Constance Jablonski wowed everyone at the National Archives Museum for the Etam Womenswear Spring/Summer 2023 show when she arrived rocking lingerie at eight months pregnant. She is expecting her first child!
Nicole Williams English

Image Credit: Alberto E. Tamargo/Sipa USA)(Sipa via AP Images.

The most recent pregnant model to walk the runway is Sports Illustrated modelNicole Williams English. While walking the runway at SI Swimsuit’s Miami Swim Week, she revealed her growing baby bump to the world. She then walked off-stage, holding hands with her husband, former NFL player Larry English. This will be their first child together.
Shanina Shaik

Image Credit: JM HAEDRICH/JP PARIENTE/SIPA.

Australian model Shanina Shaik walked down the runway at France’s amFAR Gala Cannes catwalk show. But she arrived in a bridal ensemble that showed off her growing baby bump! She posted the moment to TikTok, calling it “baby’s first runway show.”
Heidi Klum

Image Credit: AP.

Heidi Klum has recently admitted that she was pregnant with her daughter Leni when she walked the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2003 (pictured here). See a bump? Neither do we — but Klum revealed the truth in honor of Leni’s 17th birthday, sharing a video from that day.

“I am not alone walking down that catwalk here,” she wrote on Instagram. “If I look close enough then I can see you bumping right along at 4 months @LeniKlum.”
Coco Rocha

Image Credit: Charles Sykes/Invision/AP.

Coco Rocha wore a red gown and matching face mask when she showed off her baby bump at the Christian Siriano show for NYFW. She was pregnant with her and her husband of over a decade James Conran’s third child, a daughter named Iley Ryn.
Gigi Hadid

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Although no one knew it at the time, Gigi Hadi was expecting her first child with now ex-boyfriend Zayn Malik when she walked into NYFW in March 2020. She later addressed speculation about her look during the show. “People think I do fillers on my face, and that’s why my face is round. I have had cheeks since I was born,” she said on Instagram Live, adding she was a “few months” pregnant during the show.
Ashley Graham

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Mere months before bringing her first child, baby boy Isaac, home, Ashley Graham became the first woman to walk in a Tommy Hilfiger show in the fall of 2019. “Tommy told me I was the first pregnant woman who’d ever walked his runway. It was kind of like a block party in Harlem, all kinds of women, all genders, all races, and everybody’s heels were so high,” she told Vogue of the Tommy Hilfiger x Zendaya show. “I was praying I wasn’t going to fall down. Which is an awful lot to ask of a model in her second trimester — I have wounds on my feet!”
Slick Woods

Image Credit: JP Yim/Getty Images for Savage X Fenty.

Want to talk about the ultimate pregnant model badassery? In 2018, Slick Woods walked the Savage x Fenty show at NYFW — and it sent her into labor. She finished strutting her stuff, medics were called and Woods delivered her baby boy at a nearby hospital mere hours after the runway. Afterward, she took to Instagram, writing, “A lewk, 14 hours of labor, A King is born. This is the face of a WOMAN IN LABOR, we hold s*** down most of us don’t even know how much we’re going through, I’m here to say I CAN DO WHATEVER THE F*** I WANT WHENEVER THE F*** I WANT AND SO CAN YOU.”
Irina Shayk

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When Irina Shayk walked the Victoria’s Secret Runway Show in late 2016, she hadn’t even publicly announced yet that she and Bradley Cooper were expecting their first child — and she was in her second trimester at the time. Now, the couple has gone their separate ways but shares custody of their cute daughter, Lea De Seine Shayk Cooper.
Gemma Ward

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In July 2016, another Aussie model, Gemma Ward revealed she would be bringing her burgeoning bump to the David Jones Spring-Summer NYFW runway. “I am really excited that they’ve embraced me and this concept, she told The Daily Telegraph at the time. “I just think it is a really lovely way to celebrate a period in what some women go through and it is nice to celebrate all the different ways your body changes.” When Ward’s bump made its debut on the runway that year, she was 15 weeks pregnant.
Jacquetta Wheeler

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In 2015, Jacquetta Wheeler walked down the Temperley’s autumn/winter show pregnant, confirming later on her Instagram. She later welcomed her son Sam Stuart Allsopp into the world.
Ashleigh Good

Image Credit: WWD/© Condé Nast.

In 2015, Aussie model Ashleigh Good closed Chanel’s NYFW show by, you know, casually strolling down the runway seven months pregnant, arm-in-arm with fashion icon Karl Lagerfeld. All in a day’s work!
Bianca Balti

Image Credit: Pietro D'Aprano/Getty Images.

In March 2015, Italian model Bianca Balti walked the F/W15 show for Dolce & Gabbana. Just one month later, she welcomed her second daughter, Mia McRae.
Doutzen Kroes

Image Credit: Kevin Kane/FilmMagic.

Like Heidi Klum, Doutzen Kroes walked the 2013 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show pregnant (and not even showing yet!) She confirmed the pregnancy four months later in 2014 on her Instagram, welcoming a daughter named Myllena Mae in July.
Lily Aldridge

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Lily Aldridge has strutted her preggo stuff on the runway twice. In 2011, she was in the early stages of pregnancy when she walked in the Victoria’s Secret Runway Show. And while she kept that under wraps until afterwards, she took to Instagram following her second pregnant runway experience. “So proud to walk the @brandonmaxwell runway 5 months pregnant! I’ve walked a few runways in my life and this is a moment that I’ll look back on forever with great emotion. Thank you Brandon for letting me shine & being such a true gentleman, Love you FOREVER!!!”
Alessandra Ambrosio

Image Credit: AP Photo/Andre Penner.

Famed Victoria’s Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio has done the preggo runway thing twice — but for the same baby bump. First, she walked the 2011 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, where she hid her growing belly beneath a swathe of body jewels. But a few months later, that same bump was on full display when she walked at the Colcci Show in January 2012 (the latter being Sao Paulo Fashion Week instead of NYFW, but still… you get the point).
Miranda Kerr

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Another repeat-catwalk-bump model, Miranda Kerr pulled an Alessandra Ambrosio and hid her baby bump behind body jewelry for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2010 (it was a big year for preggo models!). She also walked in the Balenciaga Runway Show in September that same year when she was five months pregnant — she gave birth to her and then-husband Orlando Bloom’s son Flynn on January 6, 2011.
Jourdan Dunn

Image Credit: Jean Paul Gaultier.

Jourdan Dunn looked amazing when she walked down the 2009 Jean Paul Gaultier fashion show while eight months pregnant with her son Riley.