Maternity clothes: Why today’s mums-to-be have it easy
Beyonce has two new bouncing babies to go with her latest Grammies, according to insiders. Photo: Getty
The internet went into meltdown last week when Beyonce announced to the world that she was pregnant with twins.
She reinforced this news with a show-stopping appearance at the Grammys, revealing her expanding silhouette in a diaphanous beaded gold gown adorned with cherubs by former Pucci designer Peter Dundas.
Already somewhat deified with all this “bow down to Queen Bey” nonsense everyone carries on with, it seems being pregnant with twins has now turned her into a veritable goddess of fecundity to be worshipped and adored.
Next, Amal Clooney announced she was carrying twins, a boy and girl.
Natalie Portman is ready to pop. Zoe Foster-Blake (wife of Hamish Blake) who already owns the cutest child in the world is having another, and then there’s Amanda Seyfried, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley and Ciara.
We are up for a smorgasbord of maternity fashion. But those of us who have had twins say, ‘hmmm’.
It wasn’t so amazing being pregnant with twins back in the 90s. Rather, it was a fashion challenge.
I was living in Paris and even there, there were only a couple of boutiques that specialised in chic maternity wear.
It seems odd now that only a decade or so ago, the pregnant female form, something that is so natural, so ubiquitous and lovely, was ignored.
Our poor mothers wore smock dresses and tops designed to cover their growing bellies, as if a pussy bow at the neck was going to disguise the fact that your waters were ready to break.
I found being pregnant liberating in a fashion sense, because, having never had a flat stomach in my life, I could finally wear a tube dress and stop sucking it in.
Being two months pregnant was a little annoying because I just looked chunky around the middle, but by four months, when I was really showing, I would have been happy to rock a skin tight leather Avengers -style catsuit, had such a thing existed.
There was really not much to choose from in 1995, but I made it work, with two pairs of black maternity leggings (matte for day, velvet for evening,) an oversized white cotton men’s shirt, an ankle-length sleeveless black stretch singlet dress, and a dark grey v-neck long-line thin sweater. And ballet flats. That’s it. For the whole seven-and-a-half months.
I was so hot all the time I was happy to wear the same pieces in the snow. I accessorised with scarves, earrings, red lipstick.
Amal Clooney (with husband George) keeps her pregnant style simple in a shift dress and stockings. Photo: Getty
It was actually a very nicely edited and stress free way to dress and it’s astounding how different the maternity wear world is now.
Back then, there were no such things as maternity jeans. A quick search online today shows the immense choice pregnant women today have, at every price point from Asos to designer sites such as Seraphine.
Skinny jeans, in white, blue denim or leather, off the shoulder T-shirts, slinky leopard dresses, long silk pleated evening gowns, parkas, maternity bridal wear. Maternity lingerie.
It was almost impossible to find a black nursing bra in the nineties. I finally tracked one down in Myer in Bondi Junction and when I wore it in the hospital after the twins were born, the nurses had never seen one.
The most wonderful aspect of this fashion evolution is that women are proud and happy to be showing off their tummies, like the beautiful pregnant women you see at the beach in their bikinis.
And you can look chic, on trend and comfortable, for the whole nine months until the baby/babies arrive. Afterwards? That’s another story….
