Cardigan Empire

Salt Lake City Fashion Stylist

5 Swimsuits that Flatter During and After Pregnancy

I am now in the eighth month of growing our third son. And the temperature continues to rise here in Arizona. Swimsuits are no longer optional, and with a due date smack in the middle of swim season, I want a suit that I can wear before and after the baby is born. Following are five non-maternity swimsuits that still flatter and compliment a fertile figure, a post-partum figure, or even a standard middle figure.

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Thanks to Hapari for sponsoring this post.  Use the code “BEACHBUM” for 20% off your order, and enjoy Free Shipping on all orders over $100.

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Option one is the Seafolly Vintage Vacation Boyleg Malliot. It possesses one of my favorite swimwear features: an adjustable tie neck. Not only will this allow me to adjust the cups from pregnancy to nursing and beyond, but it also allows easy access for feeding. The ruching along the sides fully accommodates my burgeoning belly and the lower legline hits at the sweet spot between coverage and maximum leg length.

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The Hapari Mikado V-Neck Tankini with Red Diamond Dot Tie Bottoms is a playful experiment in mixing and matching. Hapari allows you to separately select the best top and bottom for your figure in a myriad of colors, patterns, and shapes. Thanks to tie closures, both pieces are entirely adjustable, allowing the suit to be immediately taken in as your body shrinks post partum. The long tank can be pulled down or gathered up depending on the curve of the torso while the adaptable tie neck can accommodate a variety of cup sizes.

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The sporty Seafolly Costa Maya High Neck Tankini and Bottoms was probably my favorite style of swimsuit. Two pieces are accommodating to a pregnant bladder and the neckline cut-outs give full coverage across my abundant curves while minimizing and streamlining my round torso.  The all-over geometric print provides core camouflage before and after the baby arrives.

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The Kenneth Cole Reaction Ruffle-licious Tiered Tubini is simultaneously comfortable and flirty. It can go from first to fourth trimester with ease. Whether you’re trying to hide a few undulations left by your baby or you’re wanting to highlight several months of gestation this piece fits both bills.

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The Kenneth Color Tribal Beat One Piece gives beautiful support through the upper half thanks to supportive underwire, and the keyhole allows you peek in on your gestation without overexposing your baby-to-be. When selecting a maternity swimsuit be sure your details fall above, below, or around your belly. Natural waist details that stripe either horizontally or vertically across the belly should be avoided.

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PostPartum Mommy Makeover: Dressing for the Fourth Trimester

 

the pearl you grew cell by cell over 40 long weeks has finally emerged

Postpartum is puberty‘s cousin.  Both involve high doses of hormones, manic emotions, and awkward body fluctuations.


Amidst the sleep deprivation and oxytocin throes, remember this truth: you are a mother, and unequivocally a queen. Every scar on your body is an imprint of the life you have born. Wear each mark as a badge of honor.

Your pre-pregnancy trousers will not magically latch as you exit the hospital, but if you’re lucky your baby will.  And that tiny body should be your focus.  Postpartum like pregnancy is a process, and one that can be relished, if given fair opportunity and appropriate costume.

THE FIRST 40 DAYS

Immediately after giving birth, I declare that all mothers have the right to a 40 day spa like retreat with their newly born.  Yet even during your span of sanctuary, you have to get dressed in clean clothes, everyday. A floral chemise and lightweight robe, yoga leggings paired with a cozy hoodie, select your lounge-wear with care.  Well wishers are going to visit and you want to look presentable.

BEYOND 40 DAYS

Tops(how to nurse in normal clothes)

  • The beauty of a button-down lies in its adaptability.  Expose the serving saucers and enshroud the rest.  It need not buttondown to hip, a handful of buttons on a henley is plenty.
  • A criss-cross wrap top not only leaves your core under the covers, it will also allow you to unveil a single teet at a time.  Or opt for a draped cowlneck, the extra fabric cloaks you and your sweet suckling’s business.
  • A knit’s neckline may scoop, dive, or lunge but make sure it stretches to accommodate milk appointments. And you may desire to pair it with a nursing tank. Open neck jersey knits are especially graceful when ruched or ruffled as they cloak retreating remains of pregnancy.
  • Because a swing jacket is cut fuller and wider than your core, your center instantly looks smaller and flatter by comparison. A  fingertip-length hoodie cut straight or banded below the bust (at the empire) rather than along the hipline avoids the puffy snowman homage in favor of a long, lean silhouette.
 
Skirts & Dresses:
  • Skirts are guileless creatures on the whole.  An A-Line cut will simultaneously pardon and offer sequestered sanctuary to a soft center, an inflated thigh, a swollen bottom.  Elastic waistbands are of particular use as they will unquestionably follow the expansion and contraction of your own figure.
  • Wrap dresses offer similar loyalties.  As you abandon inches they can be tightened across your frame; they also outfit you as a gracious and efficient milkmaid.
  • Babies are clumsy creatures and sleep deprived mothers are equally messy, wash and wear is thus a requirement to avoid dry cleaning dependencies.   Jersey dresses with veils of ruching, ruffles, and other embellishments will offer a vague yet vivacious outline.
 
Pants:
  • When given a soft, delicious center, the waistband of denim should corset in the widest width with a mid-rise.  If the waistband is too low, muffin tops results.  Too high and you’ll resemble a kangaroo.
  • Drawstring trousers allow you to adjust sizes sans tailor.
Unders:
Accessories
  • A lightweight scarf can be tied to camouflage bust and belly simultaneously.
  • A wide stretchy belt worn at your widest borders can corset in the remains of birth.  Just don’t cinch it in too tight.
  • Just because you’ve had a baby, doesn’t mean you are one.  Select a diaper bag with plenty of organization and sophistication.

Don’t be shy to add your experience in the comments.  What’s your favorite postpartum indulgence?