1960s

Chartreuse mod dress from The Little Shop (Mtl)

Ah, the 1960s. Post baby-boom, increasing numbers of women in the workforce, better and safer access to contraception… not to mention leaps and bounds in the world of fashion, fabrics and technology. I, five decades later, reap the benefits.

Let’s start with the fancier items. February! Month 5 of my pregnancy! I finally start to grow out of my non-maternity wardrobe, and am very pleased to turn to the side and rub my belly, à la Beyoncé. These are two of the non-maternity dresses that I was able to wear up until the beginning of my 3rd trimester.

A gorgeous – also still non-maternity – 1960s silk dress I found when visiting Morgan in Victoria this winter at a great shop called Duchess and Duke. Only wish I had found it earlier in my pregnancy! Will definitely keep in my closet and think I will be able to rock it. I even got to wear it with a cape since it was already feeling like spring in Victoria in late February/early March!

This grey silk cocktail dress was what I chose to ring in the new year, and what I wore to tell the Internet I was pregnant! I only wish I had had more occasions to wear it. How many dresses come with matching shawls? It feels as though it were custom made for someone for a very specific time in their pregnancy. It looks silly when you don’t have any belly at all, but very quickly no longer fits that ever expanding belly. There is zero give in the gorgeous fabric at all! It was one of the very first 3 dresses I snagged when I hit the vintage motherlode. Here’s the original tag as well:

This black and turquoise number was my go-to dress for December, January, February and I was so sad when it no longer fit come the month of March. I can’t really make the details of the design shine with these pictures, but it was so comfortable and adjustable and really made for my body type and size. No tags on this one, also suspect custom made.

Oh and how could I forget my coat. Being pregnant from September to June gave me an excuse to buy a new vintage coat! My biggest weakness! I knew exactly what I wanted – a 1960s swing coat – and knew I did not want to pay 100-200$ for it. I was lucky enough to find this one for 40 bucks in the fall, and got wear out of it well into April… and even once in May. Yes, it snowed twice in May this year.

And let us end with the late-spring outfits! Yay warmth! Stretch fabrics! Comfy cotton blends!

1970s, here we come.

1930s/40s Maternity Wear

Wearing a 1940s black crepe dress in January (at 20 weeks pregnant)

Look at how happy I was! Most of the 1930s or 1940s clothing I ended up wearing was during the first and second trimesters of my pregnancy. I was lucky enough that some of my vintage dresses fit me for quite a long time; mostly those that weren’t fitted at the hips. The items that got by far the most wear were looser slips, like this 1930s bias-cut one I love so much. So comfortable, the next best thing to being naked. I would wear an even older piece of vintage lingerie over top to be a little warmer in the winter months. These photos don’t show either item off in the best way, but gives you an idea… and shows you my guest room/walk-in closet which has now evolved into baby’s room!

Photo by Amélie Laurence Fortin

Now, for something I’d wear outside the comfort of my home. I was really surprised to find how comfortable this outfit was, up until maybe month five of my pregnancy. The dress was something I thrifted ages ago, just a simple black 1940s dress. The jacket was designed by Hildegard Geisler, someone who I have found absolutely nothing about in my online searches. If you look at the picture of the tag, you see the amazing texture of it. The quality of the garment! I love it. I’m not sure what year it is from, it could be from 50s, but I’m lumping it in here.

Next up: this coral top is way “cuter” than what I normally go for, but come on! Look at the collar! The buttons! Sadly, this one got a little ruined in the wash but I got a lot of good wear out of it. In these pictures I’m wearing it with pyjama pants, but I wore it with a black skirt in the earlier months, and maternity pants later. This is one that still fits, even now at 41 weeks pregnant… because pleats! Betty Hartford, thanks for designing this gorgeous top ages ago.

Lastly, we have this dreamy dreamy dressing gown. I only found it around month 7 of my pregnancy, and it’s not necessarily exclusively “maternity.” It does make me feel really glamourous, which I definitely needed some days. Maybe a bit Veronica Lake? Femme fatale goes goody-two-shoes?

I must admit, other than the nightgown, I’m not super into the 1930s/40s maternity wear… because it was all about concealing. This post at Just skirts and dresses goes into more detail about what the dominant discourse was around how pregnant women were encouraged to dress. Witness to Fashion also outlines the impact wartime fabric rations had on the way mothers-to-be dressed, which is fascinating.

I also recoil at the idea of maternity girdles… Today, it is strange to think of how much pressure there was to avoid making others uncomfortable by being “visibly with child.” Personally, I wanted to show off my belly as soon as I had one, so the idea of emulating the style of this era wasn’t terribly appealing to me. As you’ll see in the coming posts, I think the 1970s works for me best!

I leave you with this terribly condescending fashion advice from 1944: