Exclusive: Elsa Hosk on Her Second Pregnancy, "Full Circle" Return to Victoria's Secret, and the Realities of Maternity Style
In a Mother's Day campaign with her daughter, Tuulikki, the model is ready to stop "hiding."
When Elsa Hosk arrived on set for Victoria's Secret's 2026 Mother's Day campaign, she had a special plus-one in tow: Baby No. 2. The model still hadn't told her 8.5 million followers that she's pregnant with her second child. So the images she'd take later that day—flouncing in a mix of Victoria's Secret lingerie and pieces from her ready-to-wear brand, Helsa, playing with her first daughter, Tuulikki, while her fiancé cheered her on, all with her growing belly proudly on display—would become the official pregnancy announcement she first shared exclusively with Marie Claire.
Hosk has fronted dozens of campaigns in her modeling career. She was a regular on the original VS Fashion Show runway. But this shoot, her first Victoria's Secret gig since 2018, felt like a new sort of milestone. "It was the first time that I was on set with the belly out, not hiding it, and everyone was just so hype—like cheerleading energy," she says. "It really felt like a full-circle moment and the perfect moment for me to really make a little comeback."
Revealing her pregnancy in a major campaign would have been a flex no matter the label. But Hosk has been taking note of Victoria's Secret's changes since she last walked the runway almost a decade ago: the refreshed designs under creative director Adam Selman, the model castings that are increasingly more size- and age-inclusive. It all convinced her to return to the company for her announcement, alongside fellow VS regulars Jasmine Tookes (who announced her own pregnancy on the 2025 Fashion Show runway) and Adriana Lima.
"I remember when I started working with Victoria's Secret when I was 19, all the girls—the veterans and the angels—they would plan their pregnancies according to the show so that they could give birth at a good time and then be back on the runway," Hosk recalls. "Seeing the last show and how they had Jasmine [open] the show pregnant, to me, that was such a contrast to what it used to be. And, it was such a celebration and how it should be—really celebrating the female body at all its stages."
This time around, I feel a lot more empowered because everything that I do is on my own terms.
The lace teddies and peony-pink bras aren't materially far off from the Victoria's Secret looks she wore in the past. It's the overall energy that's taken a 180-degree turn—both for the brand and for the model. "This time around, I feel a lot more empowered because everything that I do is on my own terms," Hosk says, "and I don't think I had that luxury the first time."
Returning to set with Tookes and Lima felt a little like a class reunion for a very specific sorority. The models weren't all mothers and businesspeople the last time Hosk shared a campaign set with them; now they're each balancing their individual companies and growing families. Watching her co-stars pose with their own children, Hosk says she felt even more inspired to keep showing up in fashion through all of life's changes.
The support for fellow working fashion moms goes both ways: "They've all worn my brand, and I use their products— it's just really sweet and nice to have that kind of support."
Spending the day together on set was the first time Hosk says she's felt remotely "sexy" during her pregnancy. Even otherworldly models like her get morning sickness and first-trimester fatigue. And, they get sick of their closets. "I don't think people realize, and we don't get enough credit for dressing ourselves for nine months for a growing bump that's constantly changing," she says.
Though she says it’s not just because of the campaign, the model adds that the right lingerie has been a maternity-style essential, as she concealed her bump beneath funnel-neck coats and full-coverage matching sets.
"It's going to sound like I'm just saying that, but it's really, really true. Good lingerie [matters]—because your boobs are growing, everything is changing. Whether you wanna show yourself or not, I think it just makes you feel good to know that your body is supported."
Hosk hopes the images can be more than a personal milestone for herself. Ideally, they can remind other expecting moms to tap into their "divine feminine" side. "To me, a pregnant woman is the most beautiful, even though we don't always feel like it," Hosk says. "I mean, being pregnant can suck, but we also want to look beautiful and be represented."
