SINGER Mariah Carey has done it, and so has Britney Spears, Demi Moore and many other female celebrities.

Celebrities started the trend of posing for magazine covers in the nude when they were pregnant, and it seems Singaporean women here are following suit too, reported The New Paper.

The trend was started by Demi Moore when she posed nude with her baby bump for Vanity Fair's cover of the August 1991 issue and ever since, Britney Spears and Claudia Schiffer have appeared nude on Bazaar and Vogue respectively.

Local photographer Jothy John, who does shoots in his client's homes, has seen a 50 per cent increase in the number of pregnant clients requesting for nude maternity shots between 2009 to 2010.

In addition, Maryann Koh, a Singaporean photographer and founder The Studio Loft at Pagoda Street, says, "More women are wearing fitting dresses that show off their bellies instead of flowy dresses that hide their pregnancy," and that she has photographed about 70 pregnant clients so far this year and they were all unclothed in the pictures.

However, some have opted for a thin piece of translucent fabric to be strategically placed across their bodies.

Koh also says that those clients are usually first-time mothers who are looking for something interesting to mark their first pregnancy, and also salutes celebrities who are brave enough to show off their nude pregnant bodies on magazine covers.