Maternity clothes for professional

[GingerLiberalFeminist]

So a surprise pregnancy has put me in a quandary! Can anyone help?

Over covid I lost 4st and managed to get into size 12 suits for my job in a law firm.

However now I'm first trimester pregnant, my waist has expanded from bloating and I'm at a loss where to get maternity clothes suitable for work.

If I put on size 16 tops which cover the belly, they look boxy or I look pregnant. If I try size 12-14 they ride up.

My work dress code is suits and I'm normally in TM Lewin/Next stuff. Black or blue or grey, white shirts.

I'm also reluctant to spend a fortune as I'll only be preggers for 6.5 months now!

Stores in the big towns/cities near to me don't do maternity clothes, and it's hard enough finding smart clothes anyway now Debenhams and HoF have gone.

So where can I get smart maternity clothes that won't break the bank?

Ps first baby, I'm pear shaped, boobs have grown too.

H&m do simple black dresses, trousers and white shirts. Do invest in some comfy shoes. Congratulations
.

Hi, congratulations.

I was pregnant in 2020 through the lock down and mostly wore 'active wear' which was great.
I'm pregnant again and starting to buy a few things.

I've been looking at Isabella Oliver and Seraphine maternity wear to get some casual tops, jeans and a couple of work dresses. I don't go into the office very much though.
I have some tops from last time that are also breastfeeding friendly so they lasted for both pregnancy and postpartum.

I bought 2 casual summer dresses from Hush the other day, have drawstring around the waist so should get me through most of the summer.

I've seen a few bits on vinted/ebay so might get the work wear second hand as I won't get much wear out of them.
X

Buy second hand (I recommend vinted) - you'll find that most of the stuff has only been worn a handful of times but will be a fraction of the original price.

I got loads from vinted but my personal favourite was shopping at Envie de Fraise. Really beautiful clothes, especially for work.

Have a look at Seraphine on eBay

I worked in a fairly smart and formal office for my first pregnancy and bought myself a capsule wardrobe of Seraphine and Isabella Oliver

Isabella Oliver do great wrap dresses that you can sling a blazer over (I had a great unstructured wool one from Jigsaw which saw me through pregnancies and still gets worn now)

seraphine dresses are a bit more work smart

you can often find job lots on eBay from people selling on their entire maternity wardrobe, and Seraphine has quite good sales also

Amazing thank you! Seraphine and Envie de Fraise have some amazing stuff

I regret buying specialist maternity clothes (eg from specialist maternity ranges). As you've already mentioned, you only wear them for a few months and then you're left with ill fitting dumpy clothes you'll never wear again unless during another pregnancy.

Instead, I recommend buying clothes from a normal range which happen to fit a pregnant shape. E.g. boxy / oversized / wrap style dresses which a lot of shops happen to have right now. Especially good are wrap/ button down ones that you can wear for breastfeeding (although appreciate this may not be relevant for office clothes). That way you still have clothes that you may still want to wear afterwards. You can even just google things like "[brand] oversized dress" e.g. https://www.cos.com/en_gbp/search.html?q=oversized%20dress

In my opinion the only specialist maternity clothes which are worthwhile are tights/leggings which you may not need over summer

Ps this is what I did for my most recent pregnancy. I bought a few cheapies from Monki (usually around £20-£25 a dress but sometimes you can get for as little as £10). I can get away with something like this in my office www.monki.com/en_gbp/clothing/dresses/midi-dresses/product.midi-shirt-dress-black.0971855025.html

Similarly to you OP, I usually wear suits to work. I'm currently 7 months pregnant and mostly wearing Seraphine dresses that I have bought for a bargain on eBay. I also have some navy trousers from Verbaudet and a couple of plain skirts from ASOS that I can team with a blazer too.

Another vote for Seraphine - my wife is a doctor and we found plenty of stuff that was entirely appropriate for a professional working environment.

Not cheap, but it is nice, and in demand, which means it has resale value when you're done with it.

Also strongly recommend Seraphine (and eBay if you can). I was never one of those people who could just wear normal clothes of the right shape or a size up - I’m a 14/16 anyway, and any attempts at that just made me look like a floating house.

i was on holiday in Paris early in my first pregnancy, and went to the massive seraphine there - the advisors took maternity dressing VERY seriously and quashed all my attempts to buy things that were too big. A lot of the stuff seemed quite fitted and tailored and I wasn’t sure how it could possibly work later on in pregnancy, but it absolutely did. I had three dresses that I basically wore on rotation throughout both pregnancies (until lockdown intervened and I reverted to wfh leggings!) - so would say definitely worth the spend for a couple of good bits.

Oh, tho don’t be fooled by anything which is ‘maternity and nursing’ as a cost saver. Most stuff properly cut for pregnancy looks a bit mad once you’re not pregnant. Like going out wearing a deflated balloon.