You are at your most gorgeous and womanly for nine roller coaster months. The least you can do is flaunt your body.
AH, to be as hot as Heidi Klum and Gisele Bundchen when you are with child. You would need two things – a dip in the good-looking gene pool and designers falling over themselves to clothe you. If you have missed out on the former, there’s always hope in the latter.
In recent years, pregnant women have been flaunting their curves more. Figure-hugging tops and dresses look stunning on a woman with child, accentuating her loveliness while telling the world she is celebrating the life growing inside her.
Credit goes, in part, to Hollywood stars who decided that they would not go into seclusion the moment the bulge started showing. (See: Red carpet bumps.)
But that doesn’t mean this has gone down well with everyone. Many older folk are shocked by the sight of uncovered pregnant bumps with protruding belly buttons. To them, women in the family way should modestly cover their swollen bellies and not show them off in skin-tight clothes.
A very pregnant Melinda Looi takes to the catwalk after being presented the Stylo Theatrical Award last year. Robert Lingam, 35, remembers his mother having the shock of her life when he returned to his hometown in Kuantan with his five-months-pregnant wife.
“Lina was in a jersey dress that showed every curve of her pregnant body, which I thought was beautiful. But you could see my mother getting very flustered, not knowing where to put her eyes. My father was cool with it, surprisingly.
“My mother took me aside and hissed in my ear, asking me why Lina was dressed so indecently,” Lingam recalls, laughing.
That was seven years ago, and Lingam and Lina have since had two more kids. Lina was well aware of her mother-in-law’s disapproval, so she did try to tone down her dressing a little whenever she visited. She would wear billowing cotton tops with jeans or tops in less clingy material.
For Mavis Siow, the battle was with her own mother, who was quite vocal about the subject matter.
“She would tell me to put on a coat every time I left for work. I told her it was okay for me to show my bulge and she would roll her eyes,” says Siow, 33.
“Then she went out and bought me five ghastly dresses, each one bigger and uglier than the last! I dutifully took those tent dresses and stored them in the farthest corner of my wardrobe.”
Topshop’s maternity range in Britain is so popular that even women who aren’t pregnant buy the outfits! Not surprisingly, women like Siow and Lina are among many who may still face stares and negative remarks about showing off their burgeoning bodies. But, like them, many expectant mums soldier on and continue to celebrate their bodies in clothes that mould every beautiful curve and swell.
There is no longer the expectation to look demurely maternal, which meant frills and lace. Now it’s spandex and jersey that scream, “Pregnant and proud of it!”
Pregnant women also point out other factors that make dressing this way simply more sensible: the increasingly hot weather and their changing lifestyles. More and more, becoming pregnant doesn’t mean the woman becomes more delicate and immobile. In fact, the opposite is true.
Lina continued to work out and run till her eighth month, despite her mother-in-law’s disapproval.
Siow was never sporty to begin with, but her work – she handles events for multi-national companies – demands that she stand for hours at a time. She worked right up to the day she gave birth. If anything, it helped her focus and get organised.
“If I hadn’t been working, I think I would just have vegetated in front of the TV the whole time
“But juggling a demanding job and the impending birth forced me to get everything ready ahead of time. I did up the baby’s room, got all her bottles, nappies, clothes and whatever else I might need, ahead of schedule,” says Siow.
Low Ngai Yuen, producer, director and proud mama of three kids, also remained very active throughout her pregnancies. She continued with her work as emcee and director, keeping busy and happy.
The shift in attitude regarding the bump is welcome, to say the least. Women no longer have to hide the fact that they’re pregnant, or be deemed weak and handicapped throughout the nine months. Compared to five years ago, there are also more choices when it comes to dressing up, although we’re still very far behind the West when it comes to fashionable selections.
The more adventurous mums-to-be can always shop online; however, the complaint then is that you can’t try the clothes for fit or comfort.
Local labels, which have rather generic designs, tend to be expensive (See: Look hot in cool kits.) Malaysian designers have yet to go into maternity wear in a significant way, despite the burgeoning interest in such items.
Melinda Looi, who is both a mother and fashion designer, notes that the trend for maternity wear has changed over the years.
“You can now buy dresses, mainly stretchy jersey pieces, that look great on expecting mothers,” Looi says. What’s even better is that women can incorporate these flowing pieces into their wardrobe long after baby is born.
When she was pregnant last year, she wore her usual jeans, albeit low-waisted ones. As she grew in girth, she wore flowy dresses and people around her would comment that she looked great.
Looi’s collection has loose-fitting dresses that pregnant ladies who wish for something different can choose to wear.
Allan Chan from Salabianca, a boutique offering pretty embellished cocktail dresses, feels pregnant women have beautiful curves and they should flaunt them. “It’s sad that there are still pregnant women who wear frumpy-looking house dresses,” he says.
Would he introduce a maternity range?
If there is a demand for it, yes, Chan adds, because women should look good all the time, especially when they’re pregnant.
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