Ready for motherhood.
E! News co-host Lilliana Vazquez is more than prepared for her first child—and she’s officially expecting one stylish tot!
Lilliana posed for a stunning maternity photoshoot at eight months pregnant while waiting for “Baby M” to arrive and only E! News has the exclusive first look at the stunning images. From fishnet tops to structured blazers (and a barely-there trench coat!), the E! News personality slays in fearless and fierce fashions styled by Robert Cardenaz. The timeless shoot was photographed by Joyce Park, with Lilliana looking gorgeous in part thanks to hairstylist John Lunsford and makeup artist Keniar Daniel.
Lilliana exclusively revealed to E! News what inspired her daring maternity looks.
“For me, fashion is such a core element of who I am,” Lilliana (@LillianaVazquez on Instagram) opened up. “One thing that changes when you get pregnant is that your body doesn’t really belong to you exclusively, so you have to find ways to really feel like yourself. For some people that’s doing a specific workout, for other people it’s journaling or it’s reading. To me, it’s been very much about clothes and the reason for that is I’ve always felt like clothes are not only super powerful but transformational for me.”
Lilliana also hopes to shatter expectations of what a typical expectant mother should wear (“flowy just makes me feel like I’m in a huge tent because there’s no body awareness,” she says).
“None of those things appealed to me, and I was just like, ‘Well, I already don’t feel like myself emotionally, I don’t feel like myself physically, I don’t feel like myself. I need to find a way to connect with who I am at the core and it always ties back to fashion,'” Lilliana reflected. “So I dress the way that I would normally dress just in bigger sizes.”
But like many expectant mothers, Lilliana also got a taste of mom-shamers on social media.
Joyce Park @joyceparkphotoTrolls even insulted Lilliana by saying she was “making her baby uncomfortable” because of wearing “too tight of clothes” or high heels. “I’m pretty sure my baby is damn fine,” Lilliana clapped back. “I’m not doing anything to hurt my baby.”
It was “disappointing” and “scary” to Lilliana that some of these comments were coming from fellow moms.
“I know that they’ve emotionally felt what I felt, which is, ‘I don’t feel like myself anymore,'” she continued. “I’m trying to hang on to any element of who I was before this because I think it’s important. I think it’s going to make me a better mom, make me a better person. I think it makes me a better person. And when it’s coming from other moms and other women who have gone through this, you would think they would lead with empathy.”
Lilliana added, “I’m a person with feelings, but aside from that what’s most important to me is, I fought for six years for this. It took me six years to get this bump. This is mine and I’m going to honor it and show it off.”
And the gorgeous mom-to-be certainly is flaunting her figure! The jaw-dropping portraits feature Lilliana in seductive, feminine poses and Lilliana is proud to be bringing sexy back to motherhood.
“I felt like we’ve evolved so far past the point where we judge women for what they’re wearing, but when it comes to becoming a mom, suddenly people are like well you can’t be sexy. You can’t wear body-con dresses because, oh my gosh your child’s going to see those photos one day and be like, ‘What was mom thinking?'” Lilliana stated. “I’m pretty sure some of the sexiest women on the planet are moms and why we, as women, have to lose our sexuality and stop showing off our bodies that we love and work hard for and care deeply about just because we have children makes zero sense to me.”
Does anyone else remember Demi Moore‘s iconic nude Vanity Fair cover? Well, Lilliana certainly does.
“I can’t imagine a more natural photo than a pregnant woman’s body and that is what a body looks like when it’s carrying a child and I don’t think there’s anything more beautiful,” she recalled. “I wanted to bring elements of an editorial fashion shoot to my maternity shoot because that to me reflects when I felt my most beautiful, my most confident…I felt more womanly. I’ve never had boobs, I’ve never had a butt. I also have a belly to match and swollen feet but yeah, all of these things happened, and all of a sudden I was like, ‘I love what this baby has done to me, not just emotionally but I love what this baby has done to my body.'”
Pregnancy liberated Lilliana to take this risk: “I would never have taken those pictures if I wasn’t pregnant,” she concluded. “It was the pregnancy that gave me the confidence to sit on that chair in a trench coat with nothing underneath and knee-high boots and be like, this is the body that is carrying a miracle and a blessing. And I love it and like you don’t have to but l, I want to remember how this baby made me feel and this baby has made me feel sexier, more confident and bolder than I think I’ve ever felt in my life.”
From crop tops to high-waisted skirts and even Princess Diana-inspired bike shorts, Lilliana made pregnancy look luxe and always fashionable.
“I just want to give women the full path to wear whatever they damn well please whether they are pregnant or not pregnant,” she summed up. “Every pregnancy is unique. Every mom is unique. Every baby is special and individual and to think that there is one right way or one better way to mother or care or dress is absolutely ludicrous—there’s not. And so to find your own path and to also find your own path in a group of women in the community that is accepting, I think, is the most important thing.”
Check out Lilliana’s steamy photoshoot below!
Lilliana Vazquez shows off her curves in a stunning see-through tunic.
Lilliana wows in a sheer fishnet rhinestone dress and oversized black blazer.
The E! co-host is mellow in yellow. “A whole damn VILLAGE,” Lilliana joked on Instagram in June 2021 about her makeup and hair team during the photoshoot.
“We’re taking this to the finish line and welcoming Baby M into this world surrounded by clothes and shoes that make me feel bold and confident!” Lilliana mused on Instagram in June 2021.
No baby blues here! Lilliana looked absolutely gorgeous in a white high-neck gown.
Lilliana proved there is no such thing as traditional maternity clothes with a sexy trench coat and tall brown leather boots.
