Tips for a fashionable pregnancy
The task of dressing a burgeoning belly is often the mainstay of tent-like structures: capacious, shapeless and designed to cover a multitude.
Thankfully, this trend is changing. If the current celebrity baby boom has taught us anything, it’s that one size does not fit all; and more importantly, that pregnancy is not a nine-month sartorial sentence. No two style ambassadors exemplify this point quite like mothers-in-the-making Kate Middleton and Kim Kardashian.
Both six months pregnant; her royal highness and her royal hotness have managed to stay true to their signature dress sense; despite courting vastly dissonant public reactions. Whereas the Duchess of Cambridge has won universal praise for her practical mix of wearable high street and heritage brands; reality star Kim Kardashian has suffered the slings and arrows of outrageous fashion for encasing her pregnancy curves in lashings of leather and designer clothing that appears two sizes too small.
Regardless of this increasingly populist approach to fashion, it seems that the bump has its own speed limit; with attendant style summons for those who go too far, too fast. When it comes to the maternity lane, sexy still has the red light. Is this fair? Are we more risk-averse than we care to admit? Blogger, mother and columnist Ciara McDonnell (ouchmyfannyhurts. wordpress.com) shares her views.
“The thing that most people don’t realise about being pregnant, and dressing appropriately, is that it can take up to five months to look properly ‘pregnant’,” says McDonnell. “Until then, traditional maternity wear either drowns your figure completely, or makes you look like you have a food baby, instead of gestating a child prodigy.”
Indeed. With her bump resembling more of a mild case of bloating rather than a successor to the throne, rumour has it the lithe duchess has yet to resort to actual maternity clothing, choosing instead to size up in ranges from Topshop and Hobbs or opting for wrap dresses and coats from Max Mara, Joseph and Goat.
Conversely, Ms Kanye West’s much feted curves have padded out by a reported 25 pounds, not unusual for an expectant mum; a fact which has nonetheless caused speculation as to whether it isn’t just her bottom, but her bottom line that is being fattened up with a post-partum weight loss deal.
Kardashian has admitted difficulty in striking the right balance, despite having enlisted the help of Lady Gaga’s stylist Nicola Formichetti, Jennifer Lopez’s styling team and a roll call of Parisian labels from Lavin and Chloe to Mugler and Givenchy. On a blog post dated March 1, she states, “At this stage I guess I’m more focused on concealing the weight gain than I am about dressing the bump, just because it hasn’t popped yet….”
Hmm. So far the Armenian beauty’s definition of concealment has amounted to sheer tucked blouses, fitted below-the-knee pencil skirts, leather leggings, peplum feather tops and….erm, peplum snake print trousers. So just what is it that the erstwhile stylist just isn’t grasping?
McDonnell explains: “Kim is having a natural reaction to her changing shape. Most of us weather the storm of what to wear, particularly during those challenging first few months. I admire her resistance to don floor length muumuus, and though her choices of late have been less than flattering, she clearly thinks she looks fab, so what’s the harm?”
Circulating rumours that Kim K sought to emulate the polished style of celebrity mother Victoria Beckham only worsened her wardrobe woes, garnering unsolicited advice from the likes of Jersey Shore alum Snooki to sexagenarian actress Bette Midler. Maybe that’s the issue. Midnight cravings and morning sickness seem a lot easier to navigate on The Middleton of the Road than when playing the sex bomb.
Stylist Ingrid Hoey (www.butterflystyle.ie) breaks it down. “Kate Middleton looks elegantly beautiful because she’s not trying to dress like she’s not pregnant.” Perhaps but when cross Channel rowing, hockey, cross-country running, swimming, tennis and skiing play a part in shaping one’s perfectly toned body, the prospect of dressing for two takes infinitely less effort.
Ella de Guzman, owner of Dublin’s Siopaella (www.siopaella.com) agrees. “I feel a bit bad for Kim,” she admits, “as she just does not have a dream pregnancy body; if Kate were to wear any of Kim’s outfits they would most likely look better due to her shape.”
So what are the golden rules for looking put together while pregnant? “Until your bump ‘pops’, its best to stick to clothes that glide over your expanding shape,” advises McDonnell. “In the meantime, the most important thing to keep up to date is bra fittings. Once you are fully supported, you are ready for whatever your changing shape challenges you with. Finally, before the baby comes buy a few pieces that fit your pregnant shape, that way you won’t feel the need to get straight back into your skinnies within a week of giving birth. I would have died without my maternity leggings, and even now, 10 months later, I secretly put them on when I’m having a fat day!”
With only three months left until their July due dates, only time will tell who will emerge victorious in the battle of the bumps. Until then, there’s always the off chance that Kate and Kim will, as De Guzman advised, swap style notes. Imagine: Kate in a leather dress and Giuseppe Zanotti bird cage heels; Kim in a pillbox hat and LK Bennett coat? Now that would make headlines.
