There’s no question that dressing while pregnant is hard. It’s great and inspiring to look at Rihanna, Anne Hathaway and other stars showing off their burgeoning bellies in just-off-the-runway looks that they have managed to make work for them, largely by placing their unveiled stomachs front and centre.
But for most of us, that isn’t an option – especially in an office.
I understand both the desire to look like yourself, or at least some semblance of yourself, as well as the reluctance to invest in outfits with limited use – and there is nothing more seemingly limiting than pregnancy, when your body is changing size by the month.
Since no one understands the issue better than those who have experienced it, I did an ad hoc poll of friends and colleagues for their solutions.
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Three different approaches stood out.
The most obvious one is to take a page from Rihanna, and others, and avoid official maternity wear, which often seems to be either generic or oddly twee (not to mention expensive, given its somewhat captive market). And it’s never wearable postpartum.
Instead, consider what non-maternity pieces might be adaptable to your needs.
My colleague Sandra Garcia, for example, said that her go-to approach during her last pregnancy was to wear pieces that were oversize.
“Not boxy or eight sizes too big,” she said. “Just a bit bigger than my regular size.”
She bought, she said, “barrel pants at the Gap, wide-leg pants with an elastic waistband at Anthropologie and lots of button-up shirts" that she still wears today.
She wore her oxfords unbuttoned over T-shirts as she progressed through her pregnancy, and now she wears them buttoned up and loose. They are also professional without being stuffy (or making you feel stuffed).
Another answer came courtesy of another colleague, Sapna Maheshwari.
“Rental clothing can be a lifesaver, especially because women on Nuuly and Rent the Runway share pictures of themselves at varying stages of pregnancy on the apps,” she said.
This has the benefit of allowing you to test clothing without committing to it, to change sizes as your size changes and to not worry about whether whatever you buy will make sense in a life you probably can’t yet imagine.
If you want to actually purchase some pieces, Sapna recommends the Nap Dress from Hill House Home, which she said is “solid for stretching with a bump and then wearing afterward.”
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Finally, however, I think you might reconsider your desire to invest in pieces that can be worn postpartum.
That may seem wasteful, but it is also realistic.
Personally, I found that after each of my three pregnancies, I wanted nothing to do with what I had been living in while my ankles swelled over my sneakers and I kept Tums in every pocket to tackle heartburn.
So this is one time I turned to fast fashion and just bought a handful of very stretchy Lycra dresses from labels like H&M.
They were inexpensive, accommodated my growing stomach, and I didn’t feel bad about passing them on once my children were born.
In fact, it felt sort of like a ritual, a sign to myself that I had moved from one life stage into another. Sometimes, whatever gets you through is the best look. – ©2026 The New York Times Company/Vanessa Friedman
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
