Bump and beyond, part two

In May I wrote a post on maternity style in which I talked about the difficulties of retaining a sense of self during pregnancy, trying to remain stylish and not succumbing to sack-like clothing (unless a shapeless sack is just your thing, in which case, carry on). I thought about my own pregnancy last year and realised that - almost subconsciously - I had started to make more maternity-friendly shapes. Some of the pieces from my Spring/Summer 2015 'Hangar' collection morphed brilliantly into maternity wear and so, too, do a few from our 'Archive' collection for Autumn/Winter 2015.

The Alice cocoon cardigan, Bertie wrap cardigan and Beatrix striped t-shirt dress have all been expertly modelled below by my beautiful friend Mimi (who was around 8 months pregnant at the time). But just to demonstrate how brilliantly versatile our cocoon cardigans are, I've also included a shot of me wearing the Alice and using it to provide a little coverage as I breastfeed my daughter.

Bump and beyond

Pregnancy is a notoriously difficult period, style-wise. Nine long months for some and yet a mere snippet of a woman's life, overall. Still, your body is changing throughout and it can be tough to retain a sense of self and stay true to your style without resorting to tent-like structures for those who prefer to conceal, or permanent stretch jersey for the embrace-the-bump types.

Like many mums I know, I had an aversion to actual maternity wear, so with a bit of creativity I managed to get through my pregnancy without it - knotted shirts and tube skirts in larger sizes saw me through brilliantly. Even better is to be able to continue to wear and enjoy the things you've bought after the baby is born, too. 

It's inevitable that my collections are going to be inspired by whatever is happening in my life at the time. While it wasn't a conscious decision design-wise, there were a few pieces that morphed perfectly into maternity wear and I wore these constantly throughout the last few months before my daughter was born. As I mentioned in the post about the Halcyon cardigan earlier this week, this was my wardrobe saviour and is subsequently my favourite piece from the Spring/Summer 2015 collection. The Harmony dress was another failsafe. My lovely friend Mimi is due in five weeks' time and very kindly agreed to demonstrate just how maternity friendly these pieces can be: