Photographer Christa Meola snapped Amy Fence (far left) and her pal Erica McCabe in sexy loungewear during a girlie sojourn to Atlantic City. Stella Santana (right picture, on left) and chum Jenna La Flamme were all business posing for Meola during an entrepreneurs’ retreat in LA. (christameola.com)
Red Bank, NJ, bride-to-be Kathleen Donohue stripped down to her skivvies for a photo shoot to celebrate her recent engagement (left). At right, boudoir photography specialist Catherine Leonard (left) gives Donohue some tips on posing seductively. (celimages PROVOCATEUR (left), Kristy Leibowitz (right))
Donohue (center) wanted her wedding party pals to be in on the act at the session. (celimages PROVOCATEUR)
Jen Zank celebrates her curves at a boudoir sitting ina Red bank, NJ, studio. (Loboudoir Photography)
Susan Blake (left), a hairstylist who teamed a boudoir photo session with friends Zank and Thomspon to celebrate womanhood, says having friends around “takes the pressure off” and fosters a friendly vibe. At right, Jen Thompson shows off her baby bump — and her legs — before surprising her deer-hunting husband with a set of sexy pics for Father’s Day. (Loboudoir Photography)
Laughing hysterically, the five bachelorettes strip down to their panties, get up close and personal and pose confidently together for the camera.
“OK, so nice big smiles everyone,” shouts bride-to-be Jennie Richards, 32, jokingly adding: “Remember, girls, don’t show too much flesh!”
The risque picture is not a spur-of-the-moment snap taken during some sorority sisters’ high jinks, but the highlight of a so-called “boudoir photography party,” a growing social trend in the US, with some photographers reporting a 50 percent increase in business over the past five years.
SEE MORE PICTURES: INSIDE NY’S BOUDOIR PARTIES
Designed to empower women, they are used to celebrate everything from upcoming nuptials to milestone 30th and 40th birthdays, with professional shutterbugs like Catherine Leonard — who shot Richards and her pal Amy Blair’s joint bachelorette bash in Manhattan last month — capturing the spirit of friendship with carefree portraits celebrating the female form.
“It [our session] was all about bonding and having fun with my friends,” says
Richards, who works in medical sales. “We all felt incredibly happy and beautiful.
“It was great because the whole point was to feel good about ourselves.”
During the sittings, each woman gets a full makeover and is photographed separately in her lingerie, but there’s often a group shot, too. These fall into two categories — either tops-off, or camisoles-on (more modest) shots.
Richards and her friends opted for the former.
Most of the events are staged by bridal parties, but others are booked by moms and their friends, including Middletown, NJ, beautician Jen Zank and her companions, some of whom wanted to show they looked ultra-sexy while pregnant or after giving birth.
They recruited photographer Chris Lo Bue for their half-day session at his Red Bank, NJ, studio. “It was really fun,” says Zank, 37. “Chris is super-talented and made us feel like professional models.”
Remarkably, business entrepreneur-coaching organizations such as the one headed by Oprah fave Marie Forleo have incorporated boudoir photo sessions into their programs to build the confidence of women delegates.
“It’s a great way to bond because there’s the obvious element of strength and safety in numbers,” says veteran photographer Christa Meola, who hosts about a dozen such parties per year in luxury hotel suites in New York and Los Angeles. “Everyone has a blast and encourages each other to loosen up.
“It definitely makes for great photos when there are a lot of women doing this together.”
Not that it’s everyone’s cup of tea. Stay-at-home mom Erica McCabe, 41, of Jackson, NJ, and her teacher friend, Amy Fence, 40, of Manahawkin, NJ, couldn’t persuade their other girlfriends to come to their $3,300 boudoir shoot in Atlantic City in February. “A lot of them were like: ‘No, I don’t think so!’ But now they’ve seen our photos, they wish they had!,” explains McCabe.
Most photographers, however, are prepared to make concessions for the less daring by offering equally fabulous, albeit fully clothed, “glamour” shots.
The boudoir party trend grew out of the vogue for boudoir photography, where brides pose for sultry photos to present to their husbands as wedding gifts.
“A lot of girls would bring along a friend for moral support, so then we thought, hey, wouldn’t it be fun if it was a whole group of people?’ ” says Leonard, who charges between $400 and $500 per person. “They bring wine and food and turn it into a real celebration.”
Hair and makeup are done by top magazine stylists before the women confer over outfits.
“We shopped for our own lingerie, but I ended up being super-impressed by the items that Catherine already had in her closet in the studio,” says Kathleen Donohue, 31, of Redbank, NJ. The mom of one, who threw the party to celebrate her engagement to her fiancé, Nicholas Policano, picked out a red Victoria’s Secret teddy with black Christian Louboutin heels.
“Like a lot of new moms I feel insecure about my body, but I recently lost 9 pounds, which was very hard work,” she reveals, adding that having four of her closest friends in the studio — complete with a couple of glasses of wine — helped her relax. “Catherine has a great way of coaxing the best out of each person.”
She can’t wait to gift Policano his set of photos, but says the stellar souvenir of the shoot was the memory. “Goofing around, having fun with your friends makes the experience very special,” she says.
As for Jennie Richards, who is getting married in Detroit in December, the best part of the day was posing for the group photo with her sister, Jillian, and her bridesmaids.
“I’m not exactly sure what we’ll do with the print,” she laughs. “Maybe put it in a drawer and dig it out in 15 years and say: ‘Wow, look how young and skinny we all were!’”
jridley@nypost.com