What to Wear for a Maternity Photoshoot

Once the date's in the diary, the next message is almost always about clothes.

What to wear. Whether your usual size will still fit by then. Whether you need to go looking for maternity photoshoot dresses at all.

It's a fair thing to sit with, standing in front of a wardrobe with a body that's changing week to week.

After years of maternity photography in Sydney, I've landed on a single measure that holds up better than any rule about cut or colour. The dress that photographs best is the one you forget you're wearing.

Comfort shows up in a photograph. You can see it in the shoulders, in the hands, in how willing someone is to move.

Fabric first, because fabric is what moves

Ask me about anything else and I'll still start here.

Soft jersey, silk, chiffon, fine knit, washed linen, anything with drape. These follow the shape of your body and then keep going after you've stopped.

That movement is half of what I'm photographing. A skirt lifting as you turn. A sleeve falling back along your arm as you reach up to your hair.

The maternity photoshoot dresses that work hardest in front of a camera nearly all share it: weight, softness, and enough length to catch the air.

Colours that sit with golden light

Most of my sessions run in the last hour before the sun goes, when the light turns low and warm and generous.

Cream, oatmeal, soft white, dusty pink, sage, terracotta, warm grey. These hold that light and let your skin stay the warmest thing in the frame.

Deep tones photograph beautifully too. Navy, charcoal and black all read as quiet and strong, particularly against sandstone or dark bushland.

Solid colours keep the eye on your face and your hands. If you love a print and feel wonderful in it, bring it anyway, because feeling wonderful outranks every guideline on this page.

Fitted, flowing, or a little of both

A fitted dress traces the shape you've been carrying around all year. A stretch jersey or a bias-cut slip gives you that with no effort at all, and most women want it in at least some of their photographs.

A long, loose gown gives me movement to work with, and it gives you room to breathe at the end of a long day.

My favourite sessions use both. Fitted while your hair and makeup are fresh, then flowing as the light drops and the frames get softer.

Hiring or buying maternity photoshoot dresses

Sydney has a handful of gown hire studios with proper maternity collections, and hiring is what I suggest most often.

You get a gown cut for a changing body, in a size that fits the week you're actually in, for a fraction of what the same dress costs to buy. Most arrive steamed and ready to wear.

Buying earns its place when you'll wear it again. A silk slip, a long knit, a simple cotton maxi in a colour you love, these all live on well past the newborn weeks.

Gown hire sits outside my session fee either way, so it's worth reading what a session includes before you commit to one.

The simple dress already in your wardrobe

Before you order anything, open your own wardrobe.

Some of the most honest photographs I've taken are of women in a plain black slip, a white cotton maxi worn all summer, a soft grey knit with the sleeves pushed up.

A dress you already own arrives with something built in. You know how it moves, you know how you look in it, and you decided a long time ago that you feel good in it.

That settles into the pictures, and your children will recognise you in them.

What to bring as a second option

Bring 2 outfits, 3 if you're genuinely torn.

A fitted piece, a flowing piece, and something plain and easy in a neutral tone for the last 20 minutes, when the light goes low and soft.

Hang them in the car rather than folding them, and steam them at home so the fabric falls cleanly from the first frame.

Seamless underwear in a tone close to your skin under anything pale. Slip your hair tie into your bag an hour beforehand, so the mark on your wrist has time to fade.

Flat sandals or bare feet, always. Most outdoor maternity photoshoots move with the light, so you'll be walking a little between spots, and sand and long grass are kinder to a bare foot than a heel.

In the reserves and bushland around the Hills District, the air cools quickly once the sun drops behind the ridge. An oversized cardigan or a soft wrap earns its place in the bag, and it photographs beautifully pulled around your shoulders.

Dressing your partner and older children so the group reads as one

Choose your dress first, then build everyone else around it.

Partners photograph best in what they'd genuinely reach for. A soft shirt with the sleeves rolled, a fine knit, chinos or dark denim, bare feet if there's sand.

Children in plain, soft colours drawn from the same family as your dress. Cream, sand, sage, warm grey, washed denim.

When the whole group sits inside a single palette, the eye travels straight to faces and hands, and to the way a small person leans into your belly without being asked.

If your partner is coming along, I've written more about how those sessions tend to unfold in maternity photos with your partner.

Getting dressed on the day

Give yourself an extra 30 minutes you don't strictly need.

Put music on. Let someone else carry the bag down to the car. Eat something, and take water with you.

By the time you step into the light, the dress should already feel like yours.

Then all that's left is you, at 34 weeks, with your hands resting where they've rested all year.