FFS - maternity work wear

[eurochick]

I feel like I have tried everything and am getting nowhere.

I work in the City and so need to be smart. So far I've ordered work stuff from Isabella Oliver, Seraphine and Jojo and sent it all back. Nothing fits right - it's either tight in all the wrong places or tent-like. I have a couple of dresses from Asos recommended by a friend that I can just about get away with, but they are not enough. I have literally nothing to wear as I am too big for 90% of my pre-preg wardrobe now.

What am I missing?

Also a lawyer, currently on mat leave. My office environment was a bit more informal but I had to be equally smart for court. Dresses are definitely your friend. You might be a bit early for maternity clothes though - perhaps try again in a few weeks? I lived in the IO Everyday dress and Lizzie dress, with non maternity jackets or cardigans, but only from 5-6 months onwards as they looked daft until then without much bump to fill them out. The 4-5 month bloated-and-nothing-fits stage is the worst - sympathies (though congratulations for making it so far). Can you adapt non-maternity clothes for a bit longer? A bump band and my most forgiving "fat day" work clothes got me over those tricky weeks.

I found maternity tailored jackets hopeless as the choice is so very limited. I was lucky to have a small bump throughout and therefore to be able to wear existing jackets unbuttoned until the end. If I had outgrown them, my fallback plan was to size up in non maternity and get the shoulders and sleeves altered to fit me - perhaps a solution?

I've ordered a couple of maternity jackets and they were horrible, perhaps because I have big boobs. I think a dress with stretch and a normal jacket unbuttoned on top looks better. I've got some long sleeve dresses from JoJo Maman Bebe which I think can be smart enough for work. I'd be willing to wear them to Court.

Agree that dresses are the way to go. Have you tried Boden and Next maternity dresses?

I found sizing hard to get right in maternity clothes, and that going down a size (or two in seraphine) gave a much better fit. Have you looked into taking in the stretchy waist bands on maternity skirts and trousers, and letting them out slowly over the pregnancy? I found empire-line dresses and tops which had ties to the back to be good, as that helped to cut down on the billowing tents in early pregnancy.

Before I got pregnant with DS I dropped a dress size from a 14 to a 12. Hadn't got round to getting rid of my size 14s when I discovered I was pregnant. By the time I was 15 /16 weeks they were a god send - didn't start wearing maternity clothes until almost 6months. After I had DS they were a god send again as it took me nearly 3 years to be comfortable back in my size 12s.

My advice to anyone around your stage of pregnancy would be buy normal clothes the next size up until your bump has had chance to properly take shape.

Good luck in your search

Boden don't seem to have much in. Is this in black smart enough? I think it would be nice and flattering now and later.

At the moment, Next clearance dresses are my go-to as they are stretchy and look smart with a jacket. I tried on a nice wrap top in JoJoMaMaBeBe that might be smart enough for your non-court days.

Warehouse and Oasis both do smart jersey stretch dresses. Non mat but worked for me until 9 months.

I found a gorgeous and smart wrap dress from jojo. I don't have to be smart (anything but!) but can see it would look great with boots etc. one thing though, jojo sizes are massive - definitely size down considerably IMO! Vertbaudet have a maternity range and that seems quite smart?

I work in the city so have to be smart everyday and am also 15 weeks - tried a few maternity bits on at the weekend and they are all way to big everywhere (apart from down asos jeans and a new look denim skirt - no good for work).

My saving grace has been Next. I'm normally a size 8 in there and have just brought size 10s and they've been perfect (and seem to have room for belly to grow).

They do some fantastic tapered black trousers with an elastic ages waist (do a jersey version too) with look very smart with court shoes.

Also brought a lovely black wrap dress, jersey dress with flowers on it, a black dress with capped sleeves and a couple of blouses... Should see me through a while. Luckily I can still wear (and do up) my jackets.

Stretchy bottoms with normal tops? Babes w babies palazzos will see you right the way through.

Thanks all. I think sizing up "normal" clothes will be the way forward for a while. I actually hate clothes shopping so the idea of doing it twice - once to size up and then later for proper mat wear - is not filling me with joy, but going straight to mat wear isn't working, even though I feel enormous already.

It's very frustrating. My pregnant US colleagues always look so smart and elegant on con calls. Clearly the US does this better (as does France, judging by one post on this thread).

Refoca I have that wrap top. It's one of a minority things I haven't sent back! But I'm ok in normal tops at the moment, so it's just sitting in the wardrobe. It's anything with a waistband that I am struggling with. Jersey dresses it is!

euro would your US colleagues be horrified if you asked them where they shopped? You might be able to track some stuff down. Hopefully they'd be flattered :)

Euro have you tried this www.enviedefraises.co.uk/ or other French brands that ship to the UK? I found the quality/cut/choice much better

I second COS too. Because a lot of their stuff is voluminous, you can get away with buying a size bigger than you normally take. Good luck!

New Look dresses are great, flattering and grow with you. They do some good tea dresses, if that would be formal enough? I work in national govt but not customer facing so am a bit more relaxed these days.

here

Red Herring do some lovely stuff as well.

This is the most flattering maternity dress I have ever had

Or ASOS have a massive range

this is nice

but you do need to be a bit more selective

Thanks for the tips. I will check out the links. The French link looks particularly good merk.

Juan I definitely plan to ask. The thing is I have told HR I'm pg but not the people I work with yet (mostly in the US so they don't see me much) - I don't want to not be given the good stuff yet iyswim. However, I'm out in one of our US offices in a few weeks, when I don't think it will be disguisable any more, so I might ask then and try to fit in some shopping while I am there.

Pre preg I had a personal shopper at debenhams as a Christmas present. She knew we were trying and the clothes she picked for me I'm wearing for work now - 18 weeks. It's free and might be able to help.

I'm a lawyer too and have been managing so far (am 18 weeks at the moment) wearing clothes one size up (from when I came back to work after DD, having not quite lost all the weight...). Today my skirt has an elasticated waist - nice and comfortable!

My plan for later on is to wear the smart-ish dresses I have from last time around (body-con type so they stretch to fit the bump, as well as the increasing boobs!) with an unfastened jacket over the top for client meetings.

I'm not exactly stylish at the best of times though, so will just muddle through with a limited wardrobe until I'm so huge that I can wear maxi dresses with no tights (the joys of being due in August!) without caring what colleagues and clients think!

Anyone know what the fit of tje Seraphine stuff is like?

The stuff I got from Seraphine was MASSIVE on me. Like tents. So I'd suggest sizing down from your pre-preg size.

I loved Gap maternity and ASOS - admittedly work is v casual but still got some nice dresses.

I want to wear them again

This seemed to be a popular maternity store when I was in the US

www.apeainthepod.com/

They also have these other brands

www.destinationmaternitycorp.com/

euro I know what you mean, it's tricky. How are you finding the hours? I did a deal at 16 weeks - at 3:30 am I called the other side to find outbid it was going to happen that evening (morning!) only to find out that they'd all buggered off and forgotten to tell me

I found that the ASOS stuff looked nice on the website but was often poor quality or awful looking in the flesh. One hideous smock affair springs to mind!

I recommend buying jersey dresses a size up that you can wear after baby. It's nice to have some non maternity clothes that you can get into. Fit and flare/skater dresses are your friend.