Courtesy Andrea Konovalske
Andrea Konovalske’s modeling journey to New York Fashion Week came with a small bump in the road.
Her baby bump.
“I was extremely excited to be chosen to walk during NYFW, [but] I was accepted prior to finding out I was pregnant with baby No. 3,” Konovalske, 34, an expecting mom of two and a rising runway model, told The Post.
She and her incoming infant made their fashion week debut for ethereal label Homespun Heart in September.
“Having a baby in my belly was, honestly, the most comforting part of the experience,” said Konovalske.
A newbie to the city’s most stylish soirée, the married millennial is in the growing number of modeling mommies-to-be to crush the catwalk and work the camera during pregnancy.
But hot mamas like Konovalske aren’t doing it in maternity duds. They’re taking the floor in haute couture.
Stomping their 6-inch heels into antiquated notions that a woman’s lot is to be “barefoot and pregnant” in the kitchen, pro pinups are proving that motherhood is not the end of a model’s career — the widening changes to their physiques notwithstanding.
Instead, it’s the beginning of a new era of inclusivity in high fashion.
Bulging bellies and newborn babies have dominated designer spaces since the dawn of the year.
Maddie Moon hit Collina Strada’s ready-to-wear runway at 32 weeks pregnant during NYFW in February.
Turning heads tummy-first, the model — who welcomed a baby girl, Ocean, in March — lauds the avant-garde experience as “surreal.”
“How beautiful is it that I will get to show my daughter this one day. We did this together,” Moon, 32, a NYC couturier, tells The Post. “It was empowering.”
“If being a mother isn’t strong then I don’t know what is.”
Maddie Moon, model
The knockout, who inked a deal with Ford Models in 2001 at age 9, went on to praise Hillary Taymour, founder and creative director of Collina Strada, for spotlighting belles with buns in the oven.
“Hilary and [photographer Charlie Engman] set the theme [for the show] as ‘Stronger,’ which completely resonated with me,” said Moon. “If being a mother isn’t strong then I don’t know what is.”
Taymour tells The Post, “We always love to celebrate the profound ability of motherhood through casting.”
And the enceinte are fast becoming en vogue across the globe.
Carmen Kass, 46, sent eyes popping at Paris fashion week in October, when she premiered her protruding pouch in luxe looks from Christopher Esber and Vetements.
Veteran Victoria’s Secret model Gisele Bünchchen, 44, even posed for a few posh projects before buzz about her latest pregnancy leaked last month.
The industry icon, a mother of two teens who she shares with ex-husband Tom Brady, is expecting her first bundle of joy with new beau Joaquim Valente.
Kara Bieber, a rising beauty model based in Southern California, is grateful to the fashion greats who’ve paved the way for prenatal glamor girls like herself.
“They’re showing the world that women are badass who can do it all,” said Bieber, 26, currently in her second trimester with a baby boy. “Us being pregnant and having kids doesn’t mean our careers are over.”
“We’re just becoming greater, badder and better.”
“They’re showing the world that women are badass who can do it all.”
Kara Bieber, model
But the blonde bombshell, a small business owner and the wife of MLB pitcher Shane Bieber, admits modeling while housing a little human has its challenges.
“I get nauseous at shoots — the nausea is real,” said Bieber, who’s stunned in RMS Beauty campaigns and hopes to soon do the same for Skims and Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.
“I need to break for snacks like every 30 minutes,” she continued with a laugh, adding that fruits and bagels are her go-to bites. “I get tired and my body aches. But I love what I do, and that I’m pursuing my dreams for myself and my baby.”
Maisie Lay, a commercial model who’s gearing up to welcome a baby boy, agrees.
“I hope my passion for modeling while pregnant teaches him to appreciate women, and to be optimistic about his dreams,” said Lay, 26, from Utah.
Although she concedes that striking a pose for photographers is “not easy” at six months pregnant — owing to her distended middle, constant calls for bathroom breaks and lingering bouts of morning sickness — Lay says she wouldn’t have it any other way.
“Pregnant bodies are beautiful bodies, too.”
Maisie Lay, model
“I will never stop modeling as long as I am able,” vowed the soon-to-be mommy, who’s wowed in campaigns for Kizik shoes, Poppy & Pout lip balm and DIME Beauty for ULTA.
“Pregnant bodies are beautiful bodies, too.”