Tomorrow, I have 2 hours and £200 to buy a capsule maternity wardrobe

[mololoko]

I am going to London tomorrow and will have a couple of hours around Oxford street for shopping.

Having accidentally given all my previous maternity clothes away to charity, I need to buy a couple of decent dresses for work, some jeans, leggings, tunics.

It needs to be pretty cheap.

Where's the best place to go?

Mamas and papas and topshop have good selections and are both right on Oxford circus.

I wish you luck though as I spent all day today trawling the highstreet for some cheap bits and pieces only to discover my local topshop/DP's/next no longer stock maternity clothes (all online) whilst H&M/mothercare/jojo maman/gap had the most pitiful selection in their stores (again all online)

Combined with the fact our local formes and blooming marvelous no longer appear to exist it was a fruitless trip.

Grrrr

thanks nancy. I was wondering if top shop/next might be the best option. the ones round here have a rubbish selection. will check out mamas and papas though - I've never been to a m&p's

I know I'll end up buying online and ebay but just quite fancied having a bit of a poke around.

Sorry, but I tried to go shopping for maternity wear on Oxford St last year and the only places were Mamas and Papas, a small section in Marble Arch M&S and Gap (the branch on the north side of the street, somewhere between House of Fraser and Selfridges).

Have you looked online at:

Picchu maternity
Pretty pregnant
Crave
Jojomaman bebe
Yummy mummy maternity
Seraphine
Vertbaudet
Glow
Isabella Oliver
Wondermummy

I bought some bits from New Look. They were just fine for t-shirt type bits. There's quite a big M&P on Regent Street which seems to have fairly frequent sales.

h&m regents street has some stuff which is cheap but lasts long enough!

Hmm, maybe I'll head to regent street rather than oxford street. thanks.

There's a couple of your online list I haven't seen before, BranchingOut, I'll have a look. Although Isabella Oliver is definitely out of my league this time round!

The topshop I went into today told me that their full range of maternity wear was stocked in Oxford Circus (they apparently don't stock their full range online)

IIRC they have a dedicated store, accessible from but seperate to the main store entrance actually on regent street.

thanks Nancy, I'll start there. Had forgotten about H&M too, they were good last time.

Red Herring at Debenhams are quite good.

Got most of mine there.

DP can be ok sometimes but it depends on how much they stock.

John Lewis used to do nice dresses

Defo Mamas&Papas on oxford circus. The best maternity jeans I ever had were from there . They do lots of staples- T's, vests, ls tops as well as a good variety of knits/ dresses/ skirts etc from work or formal to more funky. and swim stuff too. and great colours.

Nice cafe upstairs too.
Any time left over then pop into Topshop- get cheap gym stuff here if you need.

have fun.

Would second Red Herring - I did well there too.
H&M was ok.
ASOS was my true friend though.

thanks all! am looking forward to it.

Zara does maternity wear as well and they do stock it in one of their stores around Oxford Circus. (on Oxford Street between Mango, Gap and Bershka opposite the Topshop flagship store)

But if you have it on good authority that there is one decent shop with a good selection, then I would plan to visit just this one shop, maybe a maximum of two. I am always amazed how Oxford Street swallows up my time . The crowds are worst during lunchtime and after 5pm. I hope you'll find what you are looking for.

A little anecdote: as a poor student, I used to man part of the shoe section in the huge Oxford Street Topshop. During training, we were told that an average customer, including those who just pop in for a quick browse, spends 4.5 hours in that store .

Asos would be a good start for some basics and I bought a few bits in Gap and M&P's. I also bought some tunic styles dresses in M&S that I plan on wearing with leggings and boots.

Honestly, I would spend the two hours with the laptop and do it all online. I have had a good trawl recently and can prob give a bit of feedback, particularly M&P where I think I have tried on most things at at this stage [embarassed]

I haven't seen anything very nice this time round at all. Mamas and Papas best of a bad bunch and Gap worth a look for basics. I got some great stuff in Top Shop four years ago, but it all seems a bit fussy at the moment.

Had a great day and really liked the Mamas and Papas stuff - I spent £100 in there on a few nice "key" pieces!

Didn't find much else apart from lots of Hello Kitty stuff for DD in H&M, but we were in a bit of a rush.

I'll trawl the internet and beg from friends for the rest.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

Oh good! They do have some nice things at the moment. There is a nice denim tunic that I would have bought were I not so near the end of pg

Esprit do maternity online aswell, strangely a bit pricey too.
Basic tops are OK.

I can highly recommend the M&P nightie
I have two and still wear them now (2years on), they are super stretchy and good for BF.