Most women don’t find maternity dressing easy. For some it means giving up your personal style for a few months as suddenly your options feel far limited.
For Irish jewellery designer, Chupi Sweetman, she has still been able to dress pretty much as usual during her pregnancy and has shared her thoughts on the topic; “I’m refusing to surrender to buying the hideous maternity clothes available so I’m wearing all of my fave dresses as long as I can!”
In particular she has had people comment on what’s ‘appropriate’ to wear whilst pregnant. She also shared that she’d had lots of messages from people after sharing her thoughts that she prefers to still get dressed up.
“I promise my love of getting dressed up is not meant as a judgement on anyone. If leggings make you happy, then that’s amazing and wear them with joy. But the idea that pregnancy means we should vanish quietly into empire lines and oversized clothes is rubbish.”
In particular the designer is known for wearing floaty dresses and lots of sequins, which makes sense for someone who creates sparkly things for a living. However, all the sparkles and the occasional short hemline are what people deem to be ‘inappropriate’ for a pregnant woman, but she is just wearing what she already had.
“It wasn’t that I planned to never buy maternity clothes so much as we went into lockdown when I was six months so it wasn’t really an option. And it feels so much more sustainable, and fun, to make my own clothes work for me.”
“Plus maternity wear is pretty grim! The necklines start under your chin, the hemlines go to the floor, in the pieces I’ve tried I feel like I’m back in Mad Men in the 60s waiting in my perfectly kept home for my husband to come back from his career in the city.”
We love that she continues to wear what she loves and think her overriding message is so important for everyone, pregnant or not; “Wear what makes you happy.”
