Last week I was lying on my sofa, eight months pregnant, and dressed exclusively in oversized gym gear borrowed from my husband because in the famous words of Regina George, "sweatpants are all that fits me right now."
Scrolling absentmindedly on my phone I saw something that made me gasp in delight. A pregnant Sienna Miller arriving at the Vogue World red carpet in a show stopping Schiaparelli ensemble. Her bare, sculpted baby bump was floating on a cloud of fabric in a vision reminiscent of some sort of Pre-Raphaelite painting. Soon after I saw the image, my phone began to light up with messages from various friends and acquaintances sharing the iconic look in a buzz of excitement. This same fervent admiration has also dominated much of the media coverage surrounding Sienna at the event.
I think it’s important to note this isn’t the first example we’ve seen of a new wave of bold and empowering maternity dressing. Rihanna of course pioneered the bump-baring pregnancy aesthetic whilst she was expecting her first child with A$AP Rocky last year, but what was first taken for granted as a mere 'trend' seems to have cemented itself as something bigger in 2023. It feels as though there’s a fundamental shift occurring in the way pregnant women are being perceived in the context of fashion and the media. The narrative is no longer “she looked great in spite of her pregnancy” but rather, "she looked great because of it."
Pregnancy is a time of enormous change. I’m not just talking about changes to your body, but also to your mind, your spirit, your very identity shifts (sometimes whether you like it or not). Even if you feel like the same person you’ve always been on the inside, society begins to treat you differently. Not necessarily the biggest issue - but certainly one that adds insult to injury, are the compromises you have to make when it comes to presenting yourself to the world. The outdated, limiting and frankly un-chic maternity fashion rules of the past are an example of how this identity shift will be imposed upon you.
The reason these red carpet moments matter is because they 'filter down to the real world' like the cerulean blue belt in The Devil Wears Prada. The message we are now receiving is that pregnant women no longer need to conceal their bodies underneath boring maternity clothes. Instead, our glorious bumps should be shown off and celebrated. It also proves that pregnancy doesn’t render a woman unsexy or unable to steal the show at this month's hottest red carpet event.
For us mere mortals... it means that there’s still time to change out of our partner's XL sweatpants.