Non-Maternity Dresses to Wear During and After Pregnancy
When you’re pregnant getting dressed can be a daily challenge. Your body is growing and changing every few weeks, and you’re probably feeling pretty uncomfortable as well. Maternity clothes can be pretty expensive and you may not want to spend a bundle on maternity pieces you’re only planning to wear for 9 months.
Most of the dress styles in this blog post you can wear throughout pregnancy, during postpartum, and even into your new years of motherhood. The cuts are very forgiving around the waist and hips, giving you plenty of room for your baby bump.
Another important thing to note, you’ll most likely be wearing the same clothes from pregnancy into postpartum. From first trimester to the fourth trimester - you’ll be experiencing summer, fall, winter and spring seasons. So your wardrobe needs to cover all kinds of maternity styles for different weather.
Comfortable Dress Silhouettes for Pregnancy
A-Line Dresses
There’s specific types of A-Line fashions that work best for maternity dresses. When the garment is fitted around shoulders/bust area and then widens with excess fabric around the waist and hips.
On ModCloth you can filter by the dresses by A-Line styles.
Anthropologie also has loose fitting boho A-Line dress styles too.
Bodycon Slip Dresses
During early pregnancy you can show off your newly growing baby bump in a fitted body con slip dress. They key is to make sure the dress is a soft and stretchy fabric. Free People has the best bodycon slip dresses that you can layer under sweaters and tops.
Tent & Trapeze Dresses
Tent and trapeze dresses are especially loose and flowing, and most importantly don’t have any waistline. They make great styles for a boho earth goddess aesthetic. The most flattering and modern styles of tent and trapeze dresses are sold at Anthropologie, Free People, and H&M.
Caftan Dresses
When you’re near the end of your pregnancy and feeling extra large, caftan dresses are very roomy and can accommodate an extra large bump. Caftans are also very helpful during your early postpartum days when you’re too tired to get properly dressed. On H&M’s website you can filter to caftan dresses.
Empire & Bardot Waist Dresses
Empire is a popular maternity dress style because it’s fitted around the bust and then flows freely around the waist and hips. It’s especially known to be great for formal dresses - can be perfect for your baby shower dress!
The Bardot style of empire waist dresses is a more modern version, which also incorporates off-the-shoulder sleeves and an open neckline. ASOS has the best selection of Bardot style dresses.
Drop-Waist Dresses
Drop-waist dresses originally came into style in the 1920’s known as the “flapper dress.” Instead of the waist hem sitting on the natural waistline, the drop-waist dress has a hemline at the lower hips. Often times this style is more loose and less fitted, making it ideal for baby bumps.
For my own pregnancy this time around I purchased a couple drop-waist dresses from the Kohl’s fashion label Elizabeth & James. They are very modern yet still flattering and comfortable for pregnancy.
Swing Dresses
A swing dress is another version of an A-line dress that’s characterized by being very flowly… aka it “swings” when you walk.
ASOS always has hundreds of really cute swing dresses in stock that will accommodate a baby bump.
Anthropologie also has the option to filter their dresses by swing styles.
Shirt Dress
The idea of a shirt dress is that it has both the tailoring finishes of a man’s dress shirt, but is also loose and a but unfitted on a woman’s body. Typically there’s a button-down front and sometimes a dress shirt collar. Wearing an over-sized shirt dress can be a fun way to mix up your maternity wardrobe.
Tunic Dress
A tunic is a versatile piece of clothing, can be worn as a stand-alone dress or as a top with leggings. I am tall so tunics are generally too short for me to wear without a bottom layer. Tunics are usually loose and unstructured, which provides room for baby. Anthropologie has great tunic style dresses.
Shift Dress
The shift dress is another style with a fitted bust area and an unfitted waist (not to be confused with the sheath dress with is much more fitted and has waist tucks). The hemline is usually above the knee, so it might be best for first and second trimester.
ASOS has the option to filter their dresses to find shift styles.
Maxi Dress
Maxi dresses are truly the ultimate summer fashion (they also make for beautiful Instagram photos!). With a growing belly you need the extra length for comfort and coverage that comes with a maxi dress. My favorite retailers to shop maxi dresses are H&M and ModCloth.
Midi Dresses
The term midi dress refers to a dress that has a hem length that ends in the middle of your knee and ankle - essentially mid calf. Midi dresses are very trendy at the moment and give you plenty of length to cover your baby bump comfortably. Madewell always has midi dress style that work if you’re pregnant.
Sweater Dresses
Pregnancy can happen any time of the year, and there’s a good chance you’ll need some warm clothes for cold winter days. Sweater dresses are an easy outfit to put together and they’re great for holiday events. The knit fabric is stretchy and soft, perfect for growing bellies.
Oversized Rompers, Jumpers & Jumpsuits
During my pregnancies and postpartum days, I really wore my jumpsuits all the time. When you’re shopping for rompers, jumpers and jumpsuits, keep a lookout for styles that have a lot of extra room in the waist and hips - they shouldn’t have any waistbands.
Jumpsuits and rompers from ASOS.
Jumpsuits and rompers from Free People.
Shop Pregnancy-Friendly Dresses
From H&M.
From Free People.
