A beauty pageant for pregnant women has been staged to show that mums-to-be can be just as sexy and beautiful as any other women.
The New Life: Made with Love contest was held in St Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city and cultural capital, in the north-west of the country.
Organisers said they had put in a lot of effort to create a 'sensual and elegant' event in an attempt to show that pregnancy could be a 'magical time'.
They said they hoped to combat stereotypes surrounding pregnant women and portray mums-to-be as healthy, active and beautiful women, focused on their careers as well as their families.
A spokeswoman said: 'Pregnancy can be both beautiful and stylish. The most important thing is to break stereotypes, and show it as something magical.'
The beauty contest was won by 24-year-old Alena Isaeva, who is expecting her first child and who impressed the judges with her dancing.
She said: 'I decided to try my luck and participate. I thought I might be able to win. In addition to that, my husband insisted.'
Women strutted their stuff in elegant, empire-line gowns that showed off their burgeoning bumps before having a quick change for the dance round where they threw on colourful polka dot designs that enabled them to move around the stage.
St Petersburg's largest network of clubs for pregnant women, Rodnik (Spring), is behind the competition, which is now in its fifth year, in conjunction with parenting magazine Erudite.
While it may be unusual to see pregnant women treading the runway, there are a growing number of specialist beauty pageants all over the world, from bottom-baring contests to celebrating plastic surgery.
Miss Bum Bum Brazil aims to find the roundest bottom from each region in August every year, while Hungarian competition Miss Plastic requires that contestants supply medical records to prove that they've gone under the knife - and they often have the figure to prove it.
And last month, mum-of-one Daria Pletneva was named Miss Russian Police in a bizarre contest that saw women score points for 'charisma', 'charm', 'grace', 'femininity' and 'perfection'.
She said after winning the title: 'I've been dreaming about participating in this contest for a long time, but I was always too shy to take the final step.
'But this time I'd just got back from my maternity leave and immediately I got into a final.'
As well as her crown, she received a special pass to give her free admission to all the events of the local police cultural centre.
She said: 'Now I can attend events like plays and concerts all year long.'
Lieutenant of internal service, Valeria Kostyna and Svetlana Skripina, who works as an inspector of criminal investigations, were runners-up.
Judges chose winners in categories like 'Charisma', 'Charm', 'Grace', 'Femininity', and 'Perfection'.
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