As a pregnant women, is style important?Does Fashion still matter?

[mytime777]

A number of my friends have recently become pregnant and I am really really surprised at how they have changed ie Some of my friends are really interested in fashion and would not be seen dead in something that was classed as 'last' season so to speak however since becoming pregnant are not too bothered.
I am hoping to start a family end of this year early next if all goes to plan; being quite fashion concious myself ( although not overly) , I am really intrigued at how pregnant women see themselves and fashion. I know priorities change and expecting a baby puts things into perspective but as an expectant mum is it still important to look good?

Should I expect to ignore my self image and take out the old oversized track suit for 9 months or do people still treat themselves to clothes, treatments etc to look and feel good during this time?

Look forward to hearing what the expectant mummies on Mn think...

I've worn mainly Topshop maternity clothes with my 2DC and will do the same with this pregnancy when I am strong enough to let the world see. Their clothes are fashionable, flatering and not ridiculously expensive. They also have good sales where you can pick up some real bargains. I guess everyone dresses how they feel and for me if I didn't look my best I wouldn't feel very good. I do wear my joggers/pjs as soon s I get in the house though!

It's not possible to maintain the same level as pre-pregnancy (unless, like me, you really didn't give a stuff anyway) without spending a fortune.

My main problem is finding anything that fits: apparently to be pregnant you have to be at least 5 foot 6. I can't find any trousers that don't need to be rolled up 3 times for me not to trip over them (I'm 5'1''). Tops are either ghastly (heavily floral prints that my mum wore when pregnant with me), overly 'pregnanty' (Does my bump look big in this etc - thereby restricting use after pregnancy) or badly thought out (so low cut at the front that they show off your lovely sexy pregnancy bra - which you bought from the same shop as the top! Spaghetti straps, when all maternity bras have straps the size of Titanic's anchor chain. So short they don't meet the apparently-more-comfortable-and-more-fashionable under-the-bump trousers in the middle so you're constantly worrying about flashing your yummy stretch marks... I could go on)

The next problem I have is finding anything full stop! I go to Milton Keynes for shopping, a place not unserved by clothes shops, yet the number of places that actually sell maternity wear is massively limited. M&S (far too 'pregnant 50-year-old'), Mothercare (good if you catch stuff in the sale, otherwise over-priced), Debenhams (if you're happy to take out a mortgage) and H&M - the only place I can reliably pick something up, and usually pretty well priced. Next and Dorothy Perkins both do maternity ranges but don't actually sell them in their shops - and th-th-th-that's all folks!

My best buys were a couple of empire-line tops from Tesco which I got for my last pregnancy, a few sizes bigger than I'd usually wear, a huge loose-knit jumper from BHS (cool when it needs to be and warm when it needs to be) and a maxi dress from Apricot (again empire-line) which is slightly too long for me when I'm not pregnant, but not now!

I'm on maternity leave now so spend most of my time in my pyjamas anyway

I love Seraphine - it's close to my usual style of plain colours and simple shapes and I still felt like me in it. Their stuff works for shorter women as well (unlike Isabella Oliver, which drowned me completely). I didn't buy any at full price - they are £££ - but there always seemed to be a fair bit on Ebay in my size. Because I hadn't paid full price I didn't mind spending the money to get the trousers shortened. I Ebayed some of it after DS was born and pretty much made my money back.

Their jeans don't stay up, though - I didn't find any that did. My least worst pair were maternity Earl jeans worn under-bump with a belt.

I didn't buy one single item of maternity wear when I was pg with any of my children. My first 2 pregnancies were in the late 80's when I was a mere slip of a thing, so I just wore the clothing I had, leaving the button of my jeans open towards the latter stages.

I fell pg with DD2 in 2006 when I was 37 and was determined not to be a frumpy MTB. I bought wrapover dresses and cardi's and shirts in 2 sizes up from what I would normally buy. I developed SPD and found trousers more comfy, so I bought some lightweight combats.

It's all down to how you feel....If dressing like you did pre pregnancy makes you feel good then do it, if slobbing around in trackies and a baggy top feels like heaven....go for that too. I always made sure that my hair was nice and whacked a bit of slap on, sometimes that makes all the difference :)

I am 38+2 with DD1 (my first baby) and I hate maternity clothes - there's so little choice, shops that usually do clothes I love have hideous frumpy floaty maternity ranges that look like they were made for women who've never had sex and never want to, and when I went to a wedding I struggled to find a single thing to wear. I'd like to have worn a slinky strapless dress made to fit my bump. If only I had dressmaking skills I'd be setting up a business in sexy and stylish maternity wear for young women. I'm 28, not 88, and I want to dress that way!

I'm still (when I don't have to walk anywhere) in heels, too, and I'm not about to give up!

PS - what I hate the most is the assumption that because I have a bump I want to hide it, and that I want to hide the rest of my figure too. I was a size 10 before pregnancy and though my bump is obviously big, I love it, and my boobs are a couple of cup sizes bigger and I'm quite happy to show them off too. My bum, thighs, and hips are all pretty much the same, and I know a lot of other women who are the same. I guess because we can't tell which bits of us are going to expand and which aren't that it's difficult for manufacturers to make standard sizes for pregnancy, but I'm still happy to show off my legs, my bust, my bump and anything else I've got going! I do not want to hide it all under a frumpy monstrosity which makes me feel like an entirely different person ...

couldn't care less really what i look like while pregnant. this time i spent the first 5-6 months constantly nauseous & vomiting, and the final 3 months with crippling PGP. My clothes are, frankly, just coverings to avoid scaring people in the street.

I am bothered too :) I had to slightly adjust my wardrobe - 10cm heels will have to wait for a while but I still want to look and feel like myself !
At 22 weeks I I think I can still manage :) still wearing some of my pre-pregnancy tops and bought a few pairs of nice maternity jeans (affordable though - Gap & Topshop rather than the usual Paige or Acne ;)
Bought maternity t-shirts from Gap as they fit better and I still like to wear white t-shirts under my black blazers (pre-pregnancy)
Still on the lookout for some nice dresses - bought a few "looser" ones from Zara but they won't fit for long :(

On the other hand I still pay a lot of attention to my hair, nails, make-up jewellery, accessories - I need to feel "pulled together" more than ever so certainly not skipping those hair appointments ;)

Thankfully, I've always been a fan of high fashion flats so getting a lot of use from those this summer :)

Dorothy Perkins have a range for tall women and the vests and t-shirts are long enough to cover a nine-month bump without being all smock-like which is not my thing, pregnant or not.
The best trousers are the ones that go up to your armpits as I found my belly needed a bit of support.

It only matters as much as fashion ever matters - ie not really unless you want it to matter.

I suppose it's not really about being fashionable trills (in the sense of keeping up with trends) but about feeling like yourself, and being able to attend weddings or special occasions or meetings at work, etc, without feeling like you're drowning in a big floral tent your gran would be ashamed to wear :)

I totally agree with takethatlady: people who know me in RL would laugh loudly at the suggestion that I was fashionable, but I do have a personal style (of sorts) and I would have been miserable if I'd had to dress in a way that really wasn't me while I was pregnant. Especially if it involved floral tents or sailor collars!

I've bought some wrap dresses (ebay), but apart from that I hope to spend the next 6 months living in Primark mens tshirts & baggy trousers.

I cba with fashion when I'm feeling so bloody hot flush-y!

I have tried to keep my old style whilst looking reasonably smart at work.

I have bought 2 pairs mat jeans, under bump, regret it so uncomfy.

Empire line non mat maxi dresses are great and I will wear them after.

Lots of stretchy tops.

My best ever buy is a pair of black over bump cords from next. Comfy and go with everything!

Swelling had made my feet an issue - have Clarks Velcro sandals only that fit now.

I tried to balance feeling ok about myself I my clothes with not spending excessive amounts

Trinaluce I'm MK based too - have you found the mamas and papas shop in Kingston? (along with a massive tesco which sometimes has maternity stuff in, a big mothercare, boots, M&S and couple of other shops)

I found that whilst their stuff was expensive normally they had fantastic sales so I stocked up on tops suitable for breastfeeding, basic t shirts and suntops and stuff really cheaply. In fact 3 years after ds2 was born I am sitting here tonight wearing one of the bf tops - you wouldn't know it was by looking at it and as I have put on so much weight it still fits - good thing about them is they are all nice and long to cover horrid fat stretchmarks/tummy afterwards big bump even at end of pregnancy

in fact most of them are still some of my best fitting tops, was half considering going in next time they have a sale even though not pregnant at the moment, I just look 7 months gone

The other thing that nobody has really mentioned are maternity bras. I was told you needed a good maternity bra and ended up in M&S getting them - boring but comfy. then got breast feeding bras - identical to maternity ones apart from the little clippy bit. If I was doing it again I'd get breastfeeding ones straight away - they are still soft but supportive enough to be comfy whilst pregnant but if you do end up bf and want to use them you can - whereas if you run short of bf bras and end up using your maternity ones you end up hoiking them around and it's do-able but a kerfuffle.

John lewis and debenhams had some nice ones that weren't boring white/black/nude, some were even sold as maternity/bf which is good.

Really enjoyed shopping wisely for maternity clothes. I found Asos.com did grt fashionable & mostly affordable clothing & their sales are brilliant. I also found the tunics perfect for day/night dressing & H&M do grt maternity wear in larger stores for reasonable prices. I Also bought things id know id wear again when I decide to go dwn that road again. Some of the highstreet stores had quite mumsy styles which really do look like theyve been there for years, at least with asos its the latest styles or very classic cuts.

keuken - yep, without Asos I'd have had no hope :)

PS - was annoyed, however, not to be able to find strapless maternity bras anywhere. Some of my maxi dresses and a dress I wanted to wear to a wedding were strapless (my shoulders and arms weren't carrying a baby, after all!) but I had to buy an underwired strapless bra in a bigger size and would have preferred a supportive non-underwired maternity bra ...

Takethatlady - I think it's physically impossible to have a supportive non-underwired strapless maternity bra! The underwire is what provides the support otherwise it's just a stretchy piece of fabric. Speaking of which, what about a non-underwired bandeau bikini top? That's probably the closest thing you'd get to it.

I think if the material of the bra was tight/stretchy/solid enough it would be possible ... there must be non-metallic means of providing boob scaffolding !!

Ah, bras are the bane of my life! I'm pg too and have fairly big boobs (34F at the moment) and can't even find a decent supportive non-underwired maternity or nursing bra that doesn't give me the ODDEST shape ever - a monoboob like my grandma used to have, low down, squashed together, deep 6-inch cleavage. And really uncomfortable. Just awful.

Thank god for Anita nursing bras I found which are pretty much the only underwired nursing bra there is - the "wire" is firm but bendy plastic so absolutely no digging in and sooooo comfy. They are the only bras to give me something approaching a normal shape ie two seperate boobs at the right height

I look back at my pre-pg 32D pretty lace bras and weep....

of course! i just wore black dresses , heels and did hair/make up as usual. maybe by 37 weeks the standards slipped a bit

Aw sleepyspaniel I bet your DP loves your boobs though

I've just been looking at nursing bras on Asos and they've got some gorgeous ones there - the sizes are a bit random and you have to search through what's available and what's not, but plenty of them go up to FF :)

I think depends hugely how pregnancy affects you. When you've got the flu, fashion not at the forefront of your mind, and in my first pregnancy I felt like I had the flu most of the time - knackered, nauseous, then bloated... But with second pregnancy felt much better and treated myself to some nice maternity wear. This time (third is due in a couple of weeks), I've only put on 20lbs (didn't crack open the M&S biscuits as soon as I found out this time and have carried on going to the gym, albeit mostly to stretch!), and have barely worn a single maternity item (they are pretty depressing to be honest). Belly band over trousers, long line vests with batwing tees over... But is no way I could have got away with that with first pregnancy. Also, first time I was just so excited about being pregnant and wanted to LOOK pregnant. This time... obviously very excited too... (feels guilt for third child before it's even born), but I'm too busy running after two under four to really be able to focus on it...

Anita underwired nursing bras are the best, especially for big sizes (order a couple to get a good fit but they tend to come small so go up a size)

I bfed for years in them and they had a nice shape.

Figleaves do them