My maternity style is defined by under-the-belly dressing

This moment reminded me that if I don’t want to buy anything maternity for my wardrobe, I don’t have to. There was also a justification that I didn’t have to hide my pregnancy. (Note: I no longer work full time in an office, which is a privilege, and I can take liberties with dressing.) I hate hearing that pregnant women feel the need to hide their pregnancies when it s It’s about their career! No one should feel this pressure – leave them alone!

Currently, I style all of my maternity looks below the bump, meaning the bump is out. Nowadays when I wear clothes I pretend my belly isn’t there and just show my belly like I traditionally do, even though my belly is now a big loaf of bread protruding from my body . Maybe the inspiration comes from Rihanna’s deliciously blatant fashion choices when she was pregnant, or Madonna trotting around London during her second pregnancy in 2000, bursting in her Union Jack t-shirt and cargo pants who held on by the pure grace of G-d. . There was also Demi Moore completely naked on the cover of Vanity Fair in 1991. And don’t forget Sienna Miller walking the red carpet at Vogue World: London in a frothy Schiaparelli number – a ruffled cream crop top and confectionery skirt.

I’m not the only one who fell under the threshold. The other day, during the opening of the Maimoun store in Williamsburg, I met the designer of a cool-girl Italian brand. Pregnant, she wore her pants slightly unbuttoned. (Note: I tried this tactic with a zipper, and it doesn’t work. Your pants will open and therefore fall down.) It looked fantastic. Very laissez-faire, very whatever!

Later, facialist Raquel Medina-Cleghorn sent me a photo of herself pregnant, while attending the Sandy Liang Spring 2025 show. She wore delicate pink Little Bo Peep bows in her hair and donned an open cardigan and low-rise jeans. “It was really bold for me, to be honest,” Medina-Cleghorn says. “Even though I don’t dress ‘professional’ for work, I still felt like exposing my stomach was too intimate for that setting, so that was probably the only time I I had my stomach exposed. Then, when I was waiting in line to enter the exhibition space, several people took photos of me in a street style, which was a little embarrassing because I’m not used to that, but it did me good.