If your social calendar is already filling up with wedding invitations, christening celebrations and birthday bashes, I’d usually suggest you shop your wardrobe. But if you’re growing a not-so tiny human inside you, your ever-changing body may not fit into your pre-bump wardrobe. If your usual uniform won’t carry you through your trimesters in style, you don’t have to splash out on every maternity range on the high street. Instead of buying tent-like dresses or hitting up your husband’s billowing shirts for a family occasion or friends’ nuptials, try renting instead. Enter Beauty and the Bump. Spotting a gap in the market, founder Lisa Carragher, a busy mum of four, conceived a luxury dress rental service for expecting mothers. With almost a decade of experience dressing bumps, Lisa decided to design her own maternity collection. The Beauty and the Bump brand is a collaboration of stylish pieces made from high-quality, bump-loving products. The service offers everything from chic rentals to more casual off-duty looks that you can buy and wear postpartum. “Pretty dresses are at the heart of the collection but as our lives have changed now as we once knew them, ‘mama’ day wear is now also our speciality,” says Lisa. “We are more than just a maternity brand with lots of busy mamas wearing our range well past their maternity journey. “We have built an incredible community of mothers who have supported our brand to where it is today. Wherever you are in your mama journey, we are here to help you embrace your mama lifestyle by designing key wardrobe pieces with motherhood in mind,” adds Lisa. Here are Lisa’s top tips for when your clothes start to feel tighter around the midriff and the simple tweaks you can make to wardrobe staples to keep you looking super stylish all the way through pregnancy: ● Invest in key maternity wardrobe staples you can wear everyday with the rest of your wardrobe — a good pair of black maternity leggings, a blue or black pair of denim jegging/jeans and maternity vest tops. Our new mama luxe leggings are a key wardrobe essential as they will take you from gym wear to dressy casual wear. ● Try to rewear your current wardrobe by making some small adjustments — wearing shirts, dresses and jackets opened instead of buttoning them to allow for your growing bump. Team your maternity jeggings/leggings with vest tops and looser fitting pieces from your wardrobe. This will save you money on purchasing a whole new wardrobe. ● For special occasions, rent a maternity occasion dress as it won’t fit you after you’ve given birth. That’s why our dress rental service is so popular and it’s a sustainable choice too. ● Invest in a pair of maternity shapewear pants for under dresses and skirts. These will boost your confidence and smooth out your hips and thighs while supporting your beautiful baby bump.
