Maternity Wear

My first blog is going to be a bit of a moan I’m afraid! Being pregnant for the second time I am now seriously fed up with the lack of choice out there when it comes to maternity clothes. I had my wardrobe almost exactly as I wanted it before falling pregnant and it was really hard to give that up – almost immediately as it happens as I seemed to lose my waist at around week 5 with both pregnancies!

Whilst pregnant the first time I frequently felt frumpy and unconfident and so was determined not to let that happen this time. Easier said than done as it happens!

There seem to be a lot of baggy maternity clothes on offer – being a style to avoid at all costs if you don’t want to look like a humpty dumpty!!

The basic rules for your body shape still apply with a few slight adjustments to accommodate your growing bump. I’m an inverted triangle and so need to wear V-neck tops to draw attention away from my rather broad shoulders. My bump is all out front, which is no bad thing I suppose, but it seems to exaggerate my narrow hips and a lot of the clothes I’ve tried accentuate all the wrong areas and send me off balance.

The best choice I’ve found so far is from ASOS, who I generally love anyway for their large variety of choice and excellent customer service. From a customer service point of view I actually can’t fault them at all – they absolutely have it mastered! Items are always delivered promptly and they make it so easy to return unwanted items. I have used them a lot over the last couple of years and have never had a bad experience. The only criticism I would have is that occasionally the quality of the clothing could be improved.

Isabella Oliver sells fantastic quality clothing and their customer service is also good but I’ve struggled to find clothes that I don’t feel frumpy in. It’s really strange because I buy to suit to my body shape and personal style and their dresses always look great on the models but when I try them on I just don’t feel sexy. Given their prices are on the higher side the item has to be perfect and I have to admit I have returned most of the items I have ordered.

I have found a couple of things I like from Topshop but find that on the whole the selection is very uninspiring. Baggy items seem to feature quite heavily and I feel the choice is pretty drab. Just because I’m pregnant doesn’t mean I want to wear bland, shapeless clothes!

Anyway, rant over but just needed to get that off my chest!! My poor husband has had a bit of a rough time this weekend as I’ve been having serious mood swings due to my general hatred for the items in my wardrobe, exaggerated by pregnancy hormones – sorry darling!