Ch-ch-changes

So I'm pregnant. That radically changes my thinking about fashion and consumption like nothing else has. Some days, I couldn't care less about how I look.

I don't really want to buy things that I might outgrow in a few months and that I might not be able to fit into post-pregnancy. Ironically, although this pregnancy has disordered all  my plans and complicated things quite a bit (it was both planned and unexpected), it has, on the other hand, simplified my wardrobe into about a dozen workable pieces. I now have a minimalist's wardrobe! haha.

But I am determined to buy as little maternity-specific clothes as possible. There's no point in buying things you'll only wear for a few months, in any scenario. As long as I can still pull from my old closet, I'll continue to do so. It helps me to feel more like me, too, which is important because I have no plans to morph into Mom, capital M, with all its social expectations and stereotypes. There are no mini-vans in my future (but I feel obliged to say that if a mini-van were to appear in my {non-existent} driveway, I wouldn't refuse it! a 30-year-old short-bed truck is less than the ideal baby transport).

Which isn't to say that I haven't stuck a toe into the maternity arena. I went down to the local thrift store to see what maternity clothes were to be had, and it was a quick lesson in aversion therapy. Everything was either ugly, gigantic, shapeless, frumpy, or a combination thereof. While I feel sympathetic to the women who, I imagine, were strong-armed into such garments solely by the forces of circumstance and practicality, I hope to not end up in such desperate straits. (But really, who's to say? One thing I've learned in being a full-time incubator is that there is not a lot under your control.)

Towards that end, I have isolated two women whose maternity style I admire. One is Melanie Huynh, former editor at Vogue Paris, and Nicole Richie, former best friend of Paris Hilton. I'll post a study of their styles in separate posts at some point. I don't really plan to fully emulate their style--I did not wear spiky Balenciaga heels prior to being pregnant, and I certainly won't during--but I think they both tweaked their individual style admirably  to accommodate their changing body shape, in ways that would be instructive to anybody.