Maternity Capsule Wardrobe | 7 Styled Looks

I’m sure nearly every pregnant woman is the same: I won’t be buying maternity wear! In fact I was so stubborn on the point that I bought a pair of H&M jeans (a few sizes up) to avoid buying maternity jeans with their stretchy bands. That can only last so long to be honest – eventually one does get tired of the button poking into a protruding belly and once you try on that pair of dreaded maternity jeans… there is no going back!

Anyhoo, despite my earlier proclamations I ended up purchasing a fairly decent amount of maternity clothes that is probably best described as a “capsule wardrobe”. Given that I work in a corporate environment, there was absolutely no way I would be able to get away with the oversized t-shirt look – and quite honestly, probably neither would my pride let me either!

Ilaria – always my biggest fan (thank you bru!) – made me feel like I had managed to keep well-dressed throughout my pregnancy and together we put together this idea of exploring my “capsule wardrobe” and looks that I styled through the last four-ish months of my pregnancy.

My wardrobe consisted of the following items:

• 5x pairs of pants (jeans, leggings and others)
• 3x dresses (for smarter occasions)
• 2x longer length jerseys – these were great for colder days as I could layer over vests and wear with boots
• 6x maternity tops (collared shirt, various longer-length tops)

In short – not very much! I will say that I was lucky enough to still be able to wear certain non-maternity things from my cupboard late into my pregnancy but on the whole; I lived-and-died by these few items. At the beginning of winter, I bought a gorgeous grey “coat-igan” from Witchery which turned out to be the purchase of the season; giving me a boost of length that I desired and because it didn’t need to be closed, was a great companion to my expanding belly.

While we are certainly limited in terms of the selection of maternity clothes available locally, I do need to praise Spree (and its ammmmmmaaaaaazing app) for having the widest selection of clothes available – both online and elsewhere in South Africa. Plus, the clothing is incredibly well-priced: all-in-all I bought ten items, averaging less than R250 per item! If you have not used the Spree app yet, you are in for an incredibly pleasant surprise. It’s quicker and easier than the website and returns take all of one click from your order page! Plus, free delivery and free returns!

Living off a much smaller wardrobe than I was used to certainly was a challenge! That said, I think I learnt that a seasonal wardrobe need not be as big as I think it always needs to be (i.e. chuck the rubbish!) and focus on key elements and styling up a plainer wardrobe with bolder accessories. As always (with me) – sticking to neutrals is the best plan to ensure a smaller wardrobe goes the distance in mixing and matching pieces. And yes – leopard is a neutral 🙂

Lastly – despite how ‘lucky’ I have been to not expand to the size of house during these past 39 weeks the truth is I still needed to learn to embrace the bump. Trying to hide it under looser tops and flowing pieces only made me look bigger (i.e. FAT and not pregnant), particularly given that my starting shape (and hopefully post-baby shape) is probably best described as hour-glass-ishy.

To give you some insight as to how I put the pieces together, I chose seven key looks to style, using my ‘capsule wardrobe’. 

Look 1.

Leggings (Spree; Me-A-Mama), White Shirt (Asos, Mamalicious ), Coat-igan (Witchery), Heels (Country Road)

Look 2.

Leggings (Spree; Me-a-Mama), Striped Top (Witchery), Booties (Zara), Coat (YDE)

Look 3.

Leggings (Spree; Me-a-Mama), Longer-length Jersey (Spree; Edit Maternity), Boots: Nine West

Look 4.

Dress (Spree; Cherry Melon), Nude Wedges (Country Road)

Look 5.

Black Ballerina Pants (Spree; Edit Maternity), Leopard-print Top (Asos; Asos Maternity ), Black Heels (Country Road)

Look 6.

Milk laser cut top (Spree; me-a-mama), Black ballerina pants (Spree, Edit Maternity)

Look 7.

Maternity full length gown (Anna Louise Sleepwear)

People will want to touch your bump when it is on display; or make comments about how big or small you are; or just stare at you in elevators or restaurants [particular younger women; I’m just saying!] but it is part of the process of being pregnant; enjoy it while it lasts!