Forget the usual vacant model stare. It was smiles and high fives as real mums of all shapes and sizes took over New York Fashion Week, working a runway with strollers and pregnant tummies, looking chic for everything from school drop-off to date night.
They walked in the first-ever "Strut: The Fashionable Mum Show", organised by two of their own at the city's Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Centre near Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week's tents. Clothes came from top designers such as Tory Burch and Michael Kors, maternity wear from Hatch and A Pea in the Pod.
"I feel amazing," said mum model Lauren Jimeson, who is 37 weeks pregnant and strutted in a cream cocktail dress. "It's just a great message that you can be fashionable and still be a mum."
One of the organisers, Melissa Gerstein, said she and fellow mum blogger Denise Albert hatched the idea after they got a TV gig and had nothing to wear.
Looks included a pair of white skinny jeans matched with a purple, tie-dye T-shirt, or loose black slacks with a billowy mustard top. Iman, a mum of two, looked resplendent in a purple lace top and short, pleated skirt by Prabal Gurung. "People think fashion and mums are at odds, which I don't think they are," the supermodel said.
The show's creators made sure all of the looks on the runway are available right now in stores, rather than six months from now in exclusive boutiques.
Mum model Kimberly Goodwin, nearly eight months pregnant, said: "Just because you're a mum, you don't lose your sense of style."
