“I’m a working woman, so I prefer wearing jeans when I’m hopping around my office. Moreover, I feel the regular me, and look like myself in those jeans,” says Pema.[break]
Usually, when it comes to maternal apparels in Kathmandu, women often cocoon themselves to the concept of less stylish and inelegant clothes. It is a well known fact that the female body experiences physical changes during pregnancy. Therefore, a pregnant woman needs comfortable apparels throughout her delicate expanding stages. The first few months are easy. One can slip into her regular existing clothes. Then, when the belly gradually expands, the search for loose and comfortable clothes is a necessity. By then, you don’t remember what the last stylish dress you wore was.
Plain Jane kurta surwal in office, those dowdy maxis at home, and again kurta surwal while outing; and one of those days, while rummaging through the wardrobe, you find yourself stuck in the pool of more kurtas and maxis.
“But one doesn’t have to sacrifice one’s style,” opines Mechee Bade Shrestha. She manages Dear Mother, a fourteen months old maternity wear store at the Blue Bird Departmental Store at Tripureshwor. A changing room is located at the lower left corner of the store while a section for party dresses and nonchalant one-piece dresses stands next to it, and tees and trousers hang on the front right side, and a range of capris is on display in the middle section.
Capris, trousers, skirts—all of these apparels have belly support on them. One-piece skirts in a gamut of prints with zippers at the breast sides are a fine substitute for boring maxis. Along with it, there are inner wears such as brassieres especially made for moms-to-be.
“Moreover, the items can be used during and after pregnancy. For instance, the side zippers in the dresses will ease while breastfeeding,” says Mechee.
For Mechee, who also happens to be a makeup artist, good clothes help in keeping pregnant mothers jolly and happy.
“I saw my clientele, who were soon-to-be moms, getting frustrated over the lack of clothes options for them,” she adds. “And if a lady isn’t feeling good about herself, then obviously there’re negative effects on the life growing inside her body.”
Consequently, Dear Mother offers brands such as Sexy Mom, New Look and Nine Months.
“The apparels are mostly from Bangkok, Singapore, and Hong Kong,” says she, “And a few of them from the US when there’s sale going around, but it’s too expensive.”
The prices range from Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 4,000. “For average-earning Nepali, the prices can be high. Therefore, I’m planning to include comparatively inexpensive brands as well,” informs Mechee.
Apart from the store in Tripureshwor, Mechee also has displayed a small section of maternal apparels in her store, Beauty & Glamour, at Lazimpat.
Besides Dear Mother, another store in town which offers a small range of maternity apparels is Cuddle Enterprises. The Woodland Complex on Durbar Marg houses Cuddle in a far left corner of the building on the first floor. Though cute baby items dominate most of the space of this shop, mixed maternity apparels also hang on the right side of this rectangular room. Of maternity wears, the store offers Amayi, a Thai brand.
A white top with colorful flower prints for sunnier days, a stylish grey long-sleeved top parlayed with linen trousers, or jeans for ladies, especially on the job, and one-piece empire waist dresses for outing are worth spending money on to enhance a pregnant lady’s wardrobe.
One of the common apparels at Dear Mother and Cuddle is the empire line dresses. It is wise to get empire waists, as it creates a visual separation between the chest and abdomen.
To help one out, though there are only a few of them, scrutinizing the photos of mothers-to-be attired in rakish maternity wears, and pasted on the walls of the store, will prepare one to get into these trendy attires.
The lined up apparels for prospective mums at Cuddle are the result of Bijay Lama and his wife Sapana and their experiences.
“When Sapana was pregnant, we were in search of regular clothes but ones especially designed for a mum-to-be. But we didn’t find stores offering them,” says Bijay.
Clothes designed on fabrics such as cotton, cotton blended in spandex for elasticity, and chiffons are available at both stores.
“We try to bring clothes mainly made of natural fibers, so that it’s comfortable to the skin and doesn’t create skin irritations,” informs textile designer Sapana. “There are elastics used in certain areas, though. For example, in the belly part of jeans, there’s spandex used so that it provides support to the belly and back.” She adds, “Such jeans can be worn throughout pregnancy, and even after a month or two of the delivery, it’s useful in holding up the loose stomach.”
Thus there are differences between normal day wears and maternal apparels. “The notion that plus-size clothes can’t supersede maternal wears is clear,” says Mechee.
Showing the details on the mannequin that stands attired in maternal wears in her store, Mechee points out, “The other difference is the designs of maternal wears. They are constructed in such ways that when a lady puts the dress on, the back and front parts of the dress are proportionate. The girth of the belly doesn’t affect the symmetry of the dresses.”
Both the above store owners feel that society still has not accepted that there is availability of different apparels for different phases of a woman’s life.
“The responses of the costumers who buy and wear such clothes are good but the sale is not as expected,” informs Mechee. And so feels Cuddle’s Bijay.
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