How do I manage to look reasonable while pregnant?

[Petsville]

Help - advice wanted from women more stylish than me! What do you do about looking half-decent in pregnancy if your only good feature pre-pregnancy was a small waist?

I'm 5'1" and was a size 8 and a classic hourglass: I've been lucky and been able to carry on wearing my normal clothes up till now, but at 22 weeks I've got a definite bump, jeans and trousers are getting tighter and I'm facing up to maternity clothes within the next two or three weeks, I think.

Because I'm so short I go for very plain styles - no frills, no prints. I've got bad legs so always wear trousers. I can just about get away with leggings and a long top if I wear knee boots, but as the baby's due in August that's not really going to be an option for long. I need to look professional at work (normally wear dark trouser suits with fitted jackets and plain fitted T-shirts or silk tops). I was always fairly well-endowed but have now gone up to a 30H, which is just ridiculous. Help! How do I not look like a completely shapeless blob?

Have you tried Isabella Oliver? If you google the site it does fantastic maternity wear. I lived in 2 or 3 black tops from there when pregnant (I had a lot of hospitality evening do's at work) and I felt really comfy and smart.

I always thick the key to being smart and stylish during pregnancy is very plain clothing with lots of good accessories / scalf's etc. That way you save money too because they can all be worn once you've had the baby.

Isabella Oliver is fantastic for great maternity stuff and I LOVE the new post pregnancy 365 range.. Topshop also great for maternity as was H&M for cheap stuff you could throw away afterwards.....

I agree Isabella Oliver is lovely, but I've heard it's no good if you're short - is that wrong? I don't want to spend a fortune on their stuff if it's all designed for women six inches taller than me. And I think I'm probably too old for H&M and Topshop (should have said I'm in my late thirties).

At the risk of provoking howls of outrage, why not take a short-cut and just google pix of Samantha Cameron as her pg progresses? I'll bet she'll negotiate the potential style-minefield of pg with a degree of aplomb.

Petsville, H&M is good for plain maternity separates - not mutton dressed as lamb at all - modelling leggings ad tunic top now.

Also, American Apparel is good for stretchy skirts and dresses.

Agree with Sweetheart that accessories with plain outfits is good. I think Joules does maternity tailoring if you want to be business smart.

Cute little dress like this or this with leggings for work and skinny jeans for leisure time?

I live in cute little dresses over leggings and jeans from ASOS and Topshop when I was pregnant, they have so many pretty dresses as well as plain classic designs.

Oh and as a size 8 pre pregnancy I seriously doubt you have hideous legs!

These jeans are nice, will look fab with a plain t shirt or vest top with a cardi for spring and without for summer.

Hmm, Samantha Cameron is much taller than me, a different skin colour and a totally different pre-pregnancy shape - it might be just as realistic to model myself on Claudia Schiffer...

Thanks for all the suggestions - will gather my courage and venture into H&M and American Apparel (and try to get the hang of accessories - normally small earrings are my limit).

Ewe, thanks for the kind words but I really do have bad legs - very lumpy calf muscles, horrible blotchy skin, lots of small scars from falling out of things or off things when I was a child, and permanently bruised because I cycle everywhere and bash them hauling the bike around. No-one I know has done anything so bad to me that they deserve to be made to look at them!

Ah that doesn't matter with leggings though! I too hate my legs, have a big scar from surgery and loads of bruises as I am one of the clumsiest people ever.

Leggings are your friend and oh so comfy for pregnancy

I'm 5ft and normally a size 8 although tend to balloon in pregnancy - well the first two anyway.

I've had 2 summer babies - one last year.

What I wore and think works when you're short is close fitting stuff - so slim fitting jeans and h&m type stretchy tops. To be honest though apart from jeans most of the stuff I wore was non-maternity as just went up to a slightly bigger size in vest tops.

I had a couple of dresses - again non-maternity - sort of empire line that worked really well.

Some nice wedge heeled sandals and some cheap bangles/necklaces and decent bag/sunglasses kept me looking fairly reasonable.

Of course it did help that last summer was such dreadful weather - it wasn't often I was too hot.

But do look in new look, h&m, mamas & papas for stuff.

I do think IO is for tall people. I had one dress from there but had to get it taken up which is a faff.

Enjoy your pregnancy!

Oh and look at photos of danni minogue - she's doing her pregnancy very stylishly.

I have dreadful legs too but wore long linen trousers during pregnancy with long empire tops, and wrap dresses (check out Top Shop) and looked good.

good luck and enjoy your pregnancy

Thanks, Traceybath - that sounds good advice. I'll look out for some reasonable maternity trousers and stick to normal tops for a bit.

Seraphine is fantastic, especially their jeans. If you're in London they have two shops, one in Hampstead and one in Kensington but they're also online.

I'm 5ft 4 and really struggled to find anything I liked when I was pregnant but once I found Seraphine I never looked back.