5 Lessons For Pregnancy Dressing... And What I'd Do Differently Next Time

Sara Crampton, founder of The Undone Store, shares her insights for dressing the bump.

Over the years I’ve managed to curate my wardrobe and fine tune the process of putting an outfit together. I have my ‘essentials’ covered and follow a minimalist approach where my wardrobe is made up of black, white and neutrals that can all be effortlessly mixed and matched with each other. But even as someone who feels fairly confident in their personal style and has a handful of go-to outfit formulas, pregnancy dressing completely threw me.

As my baby grew inside me, I watched my wardrobe shrink. A large percent of my everyday foundation pieces got packed away, and I was left stumped with what to wear.

There was an upside to this, it forced me to find a new uniform and opened my eyes to fresh outfit combinations. It also emphasised my love of a capsule wardrobe and the fact that we don’t need an overflowing wardrobe to create new and interesting outfits. Finally, as a buyer for a womenswear store, it gave me the best practical education for catering to the needs of women’s changing body shapes. Here are some of the things I learnt about curating my pregnancy style while still trying to feel like myself, and how I would do things differently next time.

Lesson 1: Buy the maternity jeans

I live in high-waisted straight leg jeans, and I naively thought I would have been able to wear them for longer, but I think it was as early as week 6 that I had to give them up. As I was pregnant over winter, for this particular wardrobe staple and core foundation piece to no longer be an option felt like I had lost a piece of my style identity. I would definitely invest in a pair of maternity jeans my next time around.

Lesson 2: Utilise what you already own and don’t over buy

This is one thing I did right. It’s pretty easy to get caught up in the moment and go on a spending spree, but before you do, go through your wardrobe, try everything on and work out what's going to fit over the next few months. Store what wont work away and out of sight, or section off your wardrobe so you know your options for now. This also helps you work out your gaps and what items you might need to stock up on. Then when choosing what you need to invest in, don’t just look at the next few months in front of you, instead, try to find items that you'll wear in future seasons as well, not just when you’re pregnant.

Lesson 3: Find your new uniform

I’m a big advocate for finding a handful of styling formulas you can throw on without too much thought or effort. As I was pregnant over the cooler months a stretchy long sleeve knit dress was my foundation piece of choice. I invested in both a black and cream dress, and would wear them both a couple of times a week, which worked particularly well since none of my pants fit anymore. To mix it up I layered them with a trench, long sleeve open shirt, denim jacket or coat depending on the temperature.

Lesson 4: Keep styling references handy

I like to trawl IG and Pinterest and save outfits that I can recreate with items I already own. It can really save you when you find yourself in a state of not knowing what to wear. Create a folder for ‘pregnancy outfits’ somewhere handy. A few of my favourite stylish maternity references are @leiasfez, @monikh and @pernilleteisbaek.

Lesson 5: Plan for the fourth trimester

Look into curating your breastfeeding friendly bras, tops and dresses before having your baby. You don’t know until you know, and your breastfeeding journey might be shorter or longer than you had anticipated, but planning this out pre bub is going to set you up for an easier fourth trimester. Sure, you no longer have to dress around a big watermelon sized bump on your tummy, but I personally found quick and easy breastfeeding outfits were equally as restricting when deciding on my #ootd.