Congratulations to the friend of mine that requested this article. Mothers-to-be are just as fashionable (and much cuter) than the rest of us! I have always wondered how pregnant women handled their expanding bellies. Do you really need to buy an ENTIRELY new wardrobe? Everything from pijamas to gym clothes can become compromised as the months go by. After seeing my sister experience three pregnancies and looking at the latest fashions out there, I realized that not that much really needs to change!
Beginning with everyday clothes, the trend of leggings will really work in favor of expectant mothers. First of all, we love leggings because they are comfortable and it doesn’t matter if we gain or lose a little bit of weight, they fit us no matter what. I would advise to buy a few maternity-specific pairs because their elastic waistbands will grow with your belly. I have also seen maternity tights at Marks & Spencers, which can also be worn after pregnancy and are much more comfortable than regular tights that irritatingly pinch the waist. While leggings have been such a trend for the last few years, this led us to purchase plenty of tops to wear with them that are longer so that they appropriately cover them. As we know, leggings are not just regular pants so we cannot just wear them with short tops. All of these longer tops that we usually wear with leggings can be re-worked into a pregnant mommy’s wardrobe as normal tops, because the extra material that made them long will now perfectly cover their tummies.
Another trend that doubles as maternity wear: flowy dresses. God knows we don’t always want to wear tight things, and every loose flowing dress in a woman’s wardrobe can be kept throughout a pregnancy. The only difference? It will be a little bit shorter, depending on how far along you are. This is not to say that a pregnant woman shouldn’t wear a tight dress—my sister said that she actually loved wearing form-fitting dresses while pregnant because the bump looked good in them. Any cotton or jersey dress that you have with stretch in it will still work while pregnant. Styles in darker colors that have some sort of draping or rouching at the sides usually look great. The best part? You can have as much pasta as you want at dinner without worrying about sucking your stomach in afterword.
When it comes to working out, the tricky part is in the tops. Your workout pants will probably fit just fine, since they have a good deal of stretch in them. Your tops on the other hand (including sports bras) will need re-adjusting. You will only need about 3-5 new sports bras depending on how often you work out, and if you usually wear fitted sports shirts to the gym just switch to larger casual T-shirts from your closet. You could even steal some of your husband’s shirts when the bump really starts to grow.
Finally, the main item of clothing that will present an issue during pregnancy are pants. There’s no way around it, so make sure to stock up on maternity jeans and pants with elasticated waists for optimum comfort. We have so many wonderful maternity stores in Kuwait now, including A Pea in the Pod at 360 and plenty of stores in the Avenues upstairs. There is even a maternity section in some high-street stores like Topshop. Happy shopping to all of the beautiful mommy’s-to-be out there!
