Monday, October 15, 2012

Flaunt the Bump

I know this is a blog post that spans about two decades of change in dressing pregnant women, so the message might seem a bit overdone. Regardless, It still comes up with me so I thought I would address it. 


It still shocks my mom how I dress my tummy.  Mainly that I don’t swath it in drapey layers and patterns to try and hide my shocking condition;).  But what other time in your life can you celebrate weight gain with such flourish?  I find that on the days I don’t flaunt it I get strange looks from people, like they are trying to figure out exactly what’s going on with me.  The old “fat or pregnant?” question flashes across their expressions and it’s just awkward for everyone.  So instead of letting the people around me suffer I make it pretty apparent what’s going on with me, tight tops, high waists, hands on top of tummy, the whole shebang.  I am just a kind person that way;)

There are several ways to flaunt the bump:

Tightly swathed:
This can be done with a dress or tighter shirt, you can layer on top but as long as the tummy stays apparent it still gives the look that you want.

High Waist:
This can be accomplished in a shirt or a skirt, just as long as you keep either your legs or your top portion looking small with tight sleeves or pants.


Here I kind of did a combination, a tight maxi dress with a crop top that I made sure to tie a bit so it didn't undo all of my work of showing off the belly.  Just a fun combo for fall, I am loving the colors going on right now!




{Shirt: F21 $10, Dress: Gap $30, Necklace: Apricot Lane Boutique $15, Shoes: Minnetonka $50}

6 comments:

  1. pregnancy is a beautiful time and i think that you are dressing your belly beautifully. enjoy every second!

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  2. You look great! And yes, when I was pregnant my grandma would always ask why I did buy any maternity clothes (I did- they were just form-fitting). She couldn't understand why everything I wore was so small! haha

    It's that or look like a blimp!

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  3. ha ha...I think all people who lived through the fifties say the same thing about pregnancy...my mil is always saying that she doesn't like it when pregnant women wear tight fitting clothes! I agree with you though. Pregnancy is a celebration! And you look so adorable. These are great pictures

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  4. You look fantastic Ashley! I never had anyone say anything about the tighter fitting clothes... interesting although I can see an older person saying that, lol.

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  5. thanks all! I definitely only seem to get it from my mom, but I think it's generational, one time in a thrift store I found a maternity dress from the early 80's, suddenly I understood completely what my mom was talking about, this thing couldn't have tried to hide more!

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  6. Oooh, yeah! Marginalizing us retro-people again;) I'm not sure how I would have "fit" (!) into today's maternity-style, anyway! Thanks to my enormous Massachusetts heredity (wait! YOU share that!) I would have "looked a long way" to find the "contrasting SMALL place on my body" since the ONLY small place on my body USED to be my WAIST!!

    Okay, my cookie-addiction, PLUS the tent-like construction of ALL maternity-clothing at the time is partly responsible for the woman I am today!..kinda works for grandmas,tho! ;)

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