beyonceSo maybe you've heard that Beyonce is designing a line of maternity clothing. No? Well, now you have. Apparently, if you're a perfectly proportioned superstar and style icon (who has other very-well-paid people pick out your absurdly expensive designer clothes for you), pregnancy is a fabulous fashion opportunity.

"I've had so much fun with fashion over the months," Beyonce gushed to Harper's Bazaar, adding, "All I see now are clothes that are flattering on a pregnant woman. It's been so exciting for me! I love figuring out designs that still make me feel edgy and sexy while pregnant. Flowy fabrics are always flattering, but I still rock my stilettos."

Hooray for Beyonce and for those of you out there who have managed to feel "fierce" and "sexy" while pregnant, but for me, dressing while pregnant was ... mmm ... not an "exciting" proposition.

Maybe it's because I cheaped out, refusing to spend more than $20 or $30 on a clothing item I was going to wear only for a few months (with only a few choice go-to exceptions: like one pretty nice pair of stretchy-top jeans, a pair of black slacks, and a black skirt I wore to everything from work to weddings). Or maybe it's because I tend to be fairly fashion-challenged anyhow, but I felt pretty much inappropriately (or at least unflatteringly) dressed for nearly any occasion. (People give pregnant ladies a fashion pass, right?)

In fact, I felt the opposite of sexy in anything I put on. As my "baby bump," as the media now universally calls it, bumped itself bigger and bigger, I started to feel more and more like a moving piece of architecture rather than a woman who could, for instance, rock a pair of stilettos, assuming I could even have squeezed my swollen feet into them. Flowy fabrics would have made me feel like a giant building wrapped by Christo!

On the other hand, dressing while pregnant (shall we dub it DWP?) did have one distinct advantage: limited options. I never had to wonder what to wear in the morning: I had only five outfits to choose from (none of them terribly "exciting"). And um ... how annoying is it that Beyonce (with her limited options) is being accused of wearing a fake baby bump because of the way the dress rippled when she sat down? Pregnant women ... can't catch a break.

Have you found it challenging to dress while pregnant? Have you managed to find clothes that make you feel "fierce" and "sexy"?


Image via Harper's Bazaar