Pregnancy does something to your wardrobe that no other period in life does: for nine months your body changes almost every week, and then, after childbirth, it returns to its state, also in its own way, at its own pace. Throughout this time, you need clothes in which you are comfortable and feel good. And here begins the problem that every one of us knows: classic maternity wear only solves the middle of this story, leaving you alone with its beginning and its end.
I want to tell you about a different approach, one we adopted when creating our collections for pregnancy and postpartum. Instead of a wardrobe designed for a bump, which stops making sense when the bump is gone, we propose a few pieces made of one stretchy knit fabric that accompany you throughout this entire journey and stay long after it. This is not a text about a single dress. This is a story about how to think about clothes at a time when the body is changing faster than ever.
Before I go further, one honest disclaimer, which I repeat everywhere because it is important to us: our clothes are not maternity wear in the classic sense. They do not have belly panels, waist adjustments, or a nursing system. They are simply made from such elastic knit fabric that they naturally transition through most of pregnancy and the postpartum period. This difference is the essence of this whole story, and I will explain in a moment why it changes everything.
The real problem with a pregnancy wardrobe is not the belly, it’s time
When we think about clothes during pregnancy, we think about the belly: how to accommodate it, how to highlight it, how to cover it. But the belly is a problem that maternity wear solved a long time ago. The real, unsolved problem is something else: time.
Pregnancy and the postpartum period are not one state, but a series of consecutive stages, each lasting several weeks and each making different demands. Early pregnancy, when nothing is visible yet, but your breasts hurt and bloating appears. The middle, when the belly is round and you want to show it off. The end, when everything starts to feel constricting. The first days after birth, in pajamas and a fog. The recovery, over weeks, in a body that is neither “pregnant” nor “pre-pregnancy.” That’s six or seven different wardrobe situations in just over a year.
Classic maternity clothing covers perhaps two stages of this, the middle and the end. For the rest, you pay separately: with pre-pregnancy clothes that you can’t wear yet, and postpartum ones that don’t exist yet. You buy a wardrobe for one season of life, but you need it for six. This isn’t a cut problem. It’s a problem of thinking of clothes as something assigned to a single moment rather than the entire journey.
How one knit fabric solves a problem that cut can’t
The answer is not a better maternity cut, it is a better material. Our entire philosophy is based on the fact that good clothing should adapt to the woman, not the other way around (I write about this more broadly in our brand philosophy). In pregnancy, this principle ceases to be an aesthetic declaration and becomes pure practice: you need a fabric that keeps up with the changing body itself, instead of requiring you to buy a new size every month.
Such a fabric is the dense, stretchy ribbed knit with 5% elastane that we use for sewing. I won’t repeat the entire mechanics of the weave here; we have described it in detail on the pages of our pregnancy and postpartum collection and pregnancy sets, and you can find even more about the composition itself on our Our Fabrics page. The important conclusion is: one knit fabric can handle all six stages that no single cut can manage separately. And that changes the way it’s worth building a wardrobe for this time.
Instead of asking “what maternity dress to buy,” you start asking differently: how few items are enough to get through this whole year comfortably and looking good? This is a capsule question, and it is in pregnancy that it makes the most sense it ever will.
A capsule for pregnancy and postpartum: few items, many stages
Capsule thinking—a few elements that combine with each other to create many outfits—is something we’ve already described in the context of a regular closet. During pregnancy, it works even more strongly for one reason: each item must work through not just one season, but several stages of the body. The fewer things that can do this, the more valuable each of them is.
The rules for building such a capsule are the same as in our general guide to a ribbed capsule wardrobe, with one difference: you choose items not for occasions (office, evening, weekend), but for body stages. Here is what such a minimal capsule might look like, mapped to what actually happens with your silhouette.
The core: two fitted midi dresses
The base of the entire capsule. In a fitted dress made of stretchy ribbed knit, you will spend the first and second trimester; it’s the dress in which your round belly looks most beautiful, and you will return to it after birth. Two dresses in different colors (a light one for the day, a dark one for the evening and for a photo shoot) give you ready-made outfits for most situations where you just want to put on one thing and go. It’s the simplest, fastest wardrobe element for this time.
Flexibility: one top and bottom set
This set takes the baton where the dress starts to have limitations, i.e., in the third trimester and during breastfeeding. The separation of the top and bottom allows you to adjust each layer separately when the belly grows fastest, and after birth, to match the top and bottom to the different paces of your body’s recovery. One set (bottom worn under the belly plus a looser top) expands the capsule with all those moments when one dress might be too little elastic in one place.
The outer layer: a cardigan or long shirt
The most underrated element of a pregnancy capsule, yet it solves the most problems. An unbuttoned cardigan or a draped shirt create a vertical line on the sides that visually organizes the silhouette at every stage, provides thermal comfort (in pregnancy it is easier to overheat, after birth, to get cold), and turns the same dress or set into a new outfit. One outer layer multiplies the number of outfits from the entire capsule.
How it works together
Four, maybe five elements—two dresses, a set, and an outer layer—and you make it through the whole year in them. The secret is that we sew everything from the same knit fabric in matching colors, so every top matches every bottom, and the dress harmonizes with the cardigan without guessing shades. This is not a coincidence, it’s the same principle of coherence that every good capsule is based on, just applied at a moment when it matters most.
Buy for the stage you are in, not in advance
Since a wardrobe for this time is a capsule built around body stages, the way you should complete it changes too. I’ll share three rules that save money and nerves, and which you won’t find on the tag of any clothing.
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Buy for the stage you are in right now, not for the one to come. The stretchy knit has such a large margin that in most cases you stick to your usual size throughout most of pregnancy. Buying “in advance” in a larger size usually ends up with an item that is baggy today in order to theoretically fit in three months. Buy what you feel good in now, the knit will take care of the rest.
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Start with the core, add over time. You don’t have to complete the entire capsule in one weekend. Start with one fitted dress when your regular clothes start to feel tight. Add the set when the third trimester approaches. The outer layer, when you want to refresh your outfits. The wardrobe grows along with the belly, it doesn’t get ahead of it.
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Choose things that will survive pregnancy as regular clothes. This is the most important test. Before you buy something, ask yourself: will I wear this when pregnancy is over? If the cut reveals a “maternity” purpose, you will put it away along with the pregnancy. If it’s simply a good dress or a good set, they will stay in your closet for years. Our entire collection is designed around this second answer.
Postpartum: a wardrobe for the stage no one warns you about
There is a lot of talk about clothes during pregnancy. Almost none about what to wear during the first weeks and months after birth. And yet that is when the most difficult wardrobe moment of this whole story arrives: pre-pregnancy clothes don’t fit yet, and you don’t want to look at maternity ones anymore. You stand in front of a closet full of things, none of which are “for now.”
This is the moment when a capsule made of stretchy knit shows its greatest value, because it goes through the postpartum period with you, without a single new purchase. Dresses you felt good in during the sixth month usually fit in the first weeks after birth (it is worth having them on hand in your hospital bag already). You separate the set so that the top accommodates your full breasts while breastfeeding, and the bottom, your gradually returning hips. You don’t buy intermediate sizes for the coming weeks; you use what the knit is already capable of.
And then, as life settles down and your figure returns to its shape, the best thing happens: these clothes don’t go into a box labeled “pregnancy.” They stay in the closet as regular dresses and regular sets that you continue to wear, with the rest of your wardrobe, without a trace that they went through the most intense year with you. The top goes with jeans, the skirt with a sweater, the dress for dinner. Pregnancy turns out to be only one of the periods you wore them in, not the only one.
Dresses or sets, where to start
Both collections are based on the same knit and the same philosophy, but they work well at slightly different moments. A brief orientation, and for details, I refer you to the collections themselves, where we have broken down every variant.
**Start with dresses for pregnancy and postpartum**, if you want simplicity: one item, a ready-made outfit, best for the first and second trimester, for every day and for a pregnancy photo shoot. It’s the fastest path when you just need to look good without overcomplicating things.
**Add a set for pregnancy and postpartum**, when flexibility starts to matter: the separability of the top and bottom gives an advantage in the third trimester and during breastfeeding, because you regulate each layer separately. Many people combine both solutions, and that’s the best part.
You don’t have to choose once and for all. A capsule for this time can start with one dress and grow to include a set and an outer layer exactly when the body demands it. That’s exactly how a wardrobe thought out around stages works, rather than around one belly in one month.
Size and care, in short
Two things you ask about most often, in a shortened version; full answers are on the collection pages and in separate guides.
Size: in most cases, stick to your usual one; the stretchy knit has a large margin, and a “backup” size usually doesn’t fit well. Follow your bust circumference. Full ranges are in the size chart, and choosing a cut for your silhouette is described in our guide on how to choose the size and cut of a ribbed dress. If in doubt, write to contact@nudyess.com with your measurements and the week of pregnancy.
Care: in the postpartum period, you wash more often, so protecting the elastane is more important than usual; wash at 30°C, inside out, dry flat, never in a tumble dryer. You will find full step-by-step instructions in our ribbed knit care guide.
Clothes that go through everything with you
The best wardrobe for pregnancy is one that you don’t think of as a “maternity wardrobe” after a year because you are still wearing it. A few pieces of the same stretchy knit, chosen for stages, not for one belly, will take you through this entire time and stay long after it. Start with one thing you feel good in right now: browse our dresses for pregnancy and postpartum or sets for pregnancy and postpartum, and add the rest of the capsule when your body asks for it. This is a wardrobe designed to be with you, at every stage, and long after.
— Sandra Do Manh, founder of Nudyess
Most common questions about a pregnancy and postpartum wardrobe
How many items do I really need for the entire pregnancy and postpartum?
Less than it seems if you choose a stretchy knit. A capsule based on two fitted dresses, one top-and-bottom set, and one outer layer (cardigan or shirt) covers most stages, because each item works for several months instead of just one. It’s definitely less than a separate closet for pregnancy and a separate one for getting back into shape.
When should I start buying maternity clothes?
When your regular clothes start to feel tight; for every woman, this happens in a different week. There is no need to buy “in advance.” Start with one fitted dress made of elastic knit, and add subsequent elements when your silhouette actually requires it. The wardrobe can grow along with the belly.
Is it worth investing in clothes that I will only wear during pregnancy?
This is exactly why it’s worth choosing clothes that you won’t wear “only during pregnancy.” Items made of stretchy knit, without panels or adjustments, look and feel like regular clothes, so they stay in your closet after birth and long after. This changes the calculation: you are not buying for four months, but for years, and pregnancy is just one of the periods of use.
How to build a consistent pregnancy wardrobe rather than a collection of random things?
Stick to one material and a narrow color palette; then every top matches every bottom, and the dress matches the outer layer. We sew our entire ribbed collection from the same knit in matching shades, so the sets build themselves. We described how to think about such a capsule step-by-step in our ribbed capsule wardrobe guide.
Will these clothes work immediately after birth?
Yes, that is one of the main reasons they were created. Stretchy knit adapts to the silhouette at every stage of returning to form, without buying intermediate sizes. Things you felt comfortable in during the sixth month usually fit well in the first weeks after birth; it’s worth having them on hand already in your hospital bag.
How is this wardrobe different from classic maternity wear?
Classic maternity clothing is designed for the belly, it has panels and adjustments that are visible and only make sense during pregnancy. Our clothes do not have these elements; they are made of such elastic knit that they naturally embrace the changing body, and after pregnancy, they just look like regular clothes. In short: maternity wear ends with pregnancy, our wardrobe stays.
