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Belly flop: Why give up style and sexiness just because you’re pregnant?
Becoming a mother doesn’t mean hiding that belly away. Luckily, these celeb moms showed us how to own it
Pick your fighter: All Saints’ Melanie Blatt performing live, at five months pregnant, in low-slung trousers and an itty-bitty top (1998). Kate Hudson in a crop top and ankle-length skirt on the red carpet when heavily pregnant (2003). Britney Spears showing up to the Charlie And The Chocolate Factory premiere in a blue T-shirt, with the words ‘I Have The Golden Ticket’ and an arrow pointing to her pregnant belly (2005).
Actually, don’t pick your fighter. Women have been showing us for decades that being stylish, sexy, even cheeky while pregnant is OK. No expectant mother needs to hide behind an empire-waist dress or circus tent to look presentable. The general public, however, hasn’t got the message. And change is long … overdue.
In 2022, Rihanna, changed the game for pregnant women everywhere when she wore body jewellery, ripped low-slung jeans, bodysuits with cutouts, oversized coats, lacy crop tops, mini dresses and mesh all through her first pregnancy. It’s the kind of look that made online media furiously publish listicles with titles such as A Guide To Pregnancy Dressing In A Post-Rihanna World.
Our Queen was pregnant again in 2023. Mama wore hot-pink Chanel puffer coats, floor-length jeans and bejewelled gold chains. Margot Robbie, while pregnant in 2024, wore sheer tops and swimwear at Lake Como. People on the internet said she looked ‘too chubby’. Some even blamed her husband, Tom Ackerley, for making her lose her sense of ‘attractiveness’.
People who are upset by the fact that an expectant mother looks sexy tend to forget that the woman (even when she was not pregnant) was not dressing for them in the first place. And that baring a pregnant belly is no different from baring a flat one. And that an expectant mother has no obligation to present herself as wholesome, demure and wholly desexed.
Indian celebrities have enough of being both. When Kareena Kapoor Khan was expecting her son, Taimur, in 2016, she wore chic co-ord sets and kaftans. India was just getting a taste of social media then – fans couldn’t get enough of her style. But few maternity stores added sexier looks to their collections – clearly Indian mothers are just not supposed to look anything but domestic for nine months.
It’s why, in 2019, UK tabloids criticised Meghan Markle for “flaunting” her baby bump (that is, not trying to hide the obvious fact that women carry babies to term). Alia Bhatt was booed, her fashion choices dissected when she was pregnant in 2022. As if she was dressing to please the masses.
Consider for a moment, Kim Kardashian’s second pregnancy in 2015, during which she wore neutral bodycon silhouettes, setting a trend that expecting mothers still follow today. And thank celebrities who take fashion risks – it makes it easier for everyday women to escape their tents and do the same. A 2021 study in the Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management examined how Gen Z envisions maternity wear. Unsurprisingly, it found that younger people – even those who are not planning to give birth - expect maternity clothing to be both fashionable and comfortable. And they don’t see a nine-month spell as being any different from the rest of their sartorial lives.
Because it isn’t. And it’s time we stopped pushing women back into pigeonholes – carrying a human in your womb is uncomfortable as it is.
From HT Brunch, February 01, 2025
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