Exhibit A: Maternity miniskirt. Please note that based on my pregnancy with Baby Oil, the amount of material that makes up this entire skirt would not have covered even my pregnant belly.
Exhibit B: Overalls. Perhaps if you are quite slender to begin with, and gain only a small and adorable bump during your pregnancy (read: most Parisian women), then you could pull off this look. I'm fairly positive I would look like an overweight hick.
Exhibit C: Formalwear. Inspired by my friend LJ's need for a formal maternity gown, I made sure to check out the formal wear selection at Galeries Lafayette (please note that Printemps, in fact, carries NO maternity clothes. Which is sad for me, and for Printemps. Not sure what they're thinking there.). Perhaps Parisian women want to flaunt the enhanced bust that accompanies most pregnancies. Also, it's not clear where the dress actually allows for the pregnant part of your body. I'm glad I already have a dress for the soon-to-be-Mr-and-Mrs wedding!
And finally, Exhibit D: Undergarments. It turns out that Parisians are as serious about their lingerie and undergarments during pregnancy as they are the rest of the time. Which is to say, they certainly market a lot of these products (I have no way of knowing, of course, whether women actually wear them!).
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| I borrowed this from a website, I think it really portrays more than I could describe. |
The overall message seems to be that simply being pregnant is not a good reason to not look good in every layer of your clothing. I am more of an adherent to the being-pregnant-is-a-good-reason-to-embrace-elastic-waists-and-sweatpants memo, but this Parisian message is certainly in keeping with the expectation that you not gain an unseemly amount of weight (my doctor already suggested that I ate too many "am-bur-ghers" while in the US in August) and that looking good is something that any woman should simply want to do. I think I missed that memo as well....did I even shower today?
