The sure thing about having a baby is that one's body will never be the same again. Apart from pigmentation and stretch marks (which thankfully I've escaped), pockets of fat cells seem to find their way to the parts that need it least. Since most of us mere mortals do not have a celebrity trainer on speed dial, shedding the pounds and fitting back into one's pre-pregnancy wardrobe would take some time.
I was quite lucky as most of my existing wardrobe worked until I hit 5 months, and some stretchy dresses from m'phosis and Mango actually fit up to birth. Apart from some maternity shorts and capris from Gingersnapps and Mothers En Vogue, I still bought clothes from my favourite brands, only a size up, or stocked up on Zara's affordable stretchy basic dresses to accomodate the growing bump. Formal wear also didn't pose much of a problem since A/W 2010 silhouettes were cut on the roomier side and I could always get these taken in after birth. It wasn't until my 8th month that I brought out that gawd-awful Pea in the Pod maternity dress (thankfully in a sleek grey with a cowl neck) and shrunk my work wardrobe to the few dresses that didn't bite into my belly because comfort rather than style took on a greater priority. Consequently by the time my belly wrap came off in the second week of my confinement period, I was feeling the greatest need to hit the road running and shop at top speed!
That as any mom knows is clear impossible with a newborn demanding feeds every 2 - 3 hours so shopping on the internet proved to be my saviour, as it had during pregnancy when work, family and other commitments rarely allowed me an extended day of shopping. In all 9 months I carried Baby M, I stepped into a changing room to try clothes on not more than 8 or 9 occasions, relying mostly on shopping off The Outnet, Net-A-Porter or Shopbop and thought I had gotten ordering clothes (with no error in terms of sizing and hence not incurring any charges for returns/exchanges!) down to a pat. Unfortunately, after 9 months of not knowing my "real-life" size, I've had a lot of trial and error trying to update my wardrobe post delivery. Although most of the pregnancy weight fell off within the first 2 weeks, and the numbers of the scale edged closer to my pre-pregnancy weight, nature had conspired to endow me with more curves such that a number of my clothes refused to budge whether I was trying to tug them down from the neck or pull them up from the ground!
The last shopping expedition off The Outnet proved no different as I now realised to my horror that I am no longer a UK Size 10, nor an Italian Size 38. The sole dress that fit only did because it was too big and a trip to Michelle Alteration will be on my calendar in the near future since there was no smaller size available for exchange. I've subsequently stuck to ordering my favourite brands of shoes online instead since there's little room for error and also because (a) they're much cheaper than what On Pedder/Tangs/Hue etc sell them at (b) there's a greater variety of designs and (c) it's so much more exciting receiving a visit from the DHL and UPS guy!
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| My guilty passion for flats and impractical shoes |
So with my return to work imminent, and with no real work separates in the wardrobe that fit, I've been going on various shopping expeditions in my free time especially since it's the GSS and there are a number of bazaars and sales going on (online and in the shops). Unfortunately, I haven't quite stuck to my shopping list since I ended up buying everything else except work clothes!
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| Accessories and dresses - but no work separates! |
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