Maternity Item of the Week - More of Me Maternity

Posted Tuesday, September 22, 2009 3:06 PM

Maternity Item of the Week by Pregnant Fashionista

The MomBoHoChic Dress by More of Me Maternity

I am always especially excited when I hear of new designers entering the maternity fashion sphere, especially when those designers are moms who are starting their own small businesses.  Such is the case with More of Me Maternity, launched last spring by DC-based designer Jessica Boulanger.   Jessica released a very chic, flattering spring line and has followed up with an equally impressive line for Fall 2009, all of which is created right in New York City.  She also has a cleverly designed, easy-to-navigate website from which you can order her entire collection, which makes avid online shoppers like yours truly especially grateful.  You can view her entire fall collection, as well as her spring 2009 collection (which is on sale) here. [http://moreofmematernity.com/].  More of Me is a small collection, but the pieces are extremely versatile and come in fun colors.  The tunics can be worn as short dresses when you are feeling cute and barely pregnant and then worn as tops when, well, let’s be honest, you are too huge to don a mini dress.

The designer’s own favorite is the MomBoHoChic Dress, a smartly cut V-neck dress with well-placed drawstrings at both the waistline and on the arms.  Depending on your mood, you can wear the dress with short sleeves, or allow the sleeves to extend to ¾ length.  The drawstring at the waist ensures that this will be wearable from the start of your pregnancy to its finish.  Unlike the rest of More of Me’s new collection, this particular dress is cut quite long and hits at about mid-calf length.  The length makes it more versatile and you may easily wear it with a pair of sandals or flats while the weather is still warm or you can spruce it up with tights and boots when things coo down.  Made from a very thick polyester knit, this dress is also supremely comfortable. 

I should point out that while the MomBoHoChic Dress works hard to camouflage what’s going on from your empire waist down, it works just as hard to enhance what you have going on above the bump.  The V-neck is quite deep, so if you aren’t quite ready to flaunt your newest acquisitions, you’ll need to wear a camisole underneath it.  More of Me does run slightly large, so stick to your pre-pregnancy size.

The Fall 2009 version of this dress is available in a solid heather grey and in the Buffalo Plaid print pictured here for USD $225.  If you are very newly pregnant and looking ahead to spring 2010, More of Me has the Spring 2009 white eyelet version of the MomBoHoChic dress on sale for a very reasonable USD $135 here.  And, as of this writing, it was still available in all sizes.

And while you are shopping More of Me, you may find yourself unable to resist Jessica’s take on the Little Black Dress.  If you have a special occasion coming up or you’re already thinking about what you can possibly fit into come holiday party time, I can’t think of anything more ideal than this very trendy, one-shouldered black dress.  Hopefully, more maternity designers out there will take notice of More of Me and recognize that pregnant woman want trendy clothing too!