Blingin’ up the bump

What do you do when you want to dress up but your waist has disappeared alongside 99.8 % of your wardrobe?

Well, my answer is you either sit down or cry or you bling it up baby.

So yesterday when I was going to Soho for a party I decided to spice my beloved stretchy H&M dress up with a gold second-hand belt and my Chanel earrings.

The belt might be in a weird position, but who cares, it’s shiny & glittery!

Dressing the bump – H&M cropped animal print top

So, I stopped by Topshop the other day to check out their maternity range. I left empty-handed (apart from a pair of leggings) as the collection failed to impress me, especially when you consider their pretty high prices.

Instead I stopped by always cheap and reliable H&M where I bought this cropped viscose top for £13.

I haven’t really had any weird pregnancy-related food cravings, but when it comes to clothes I don’t seem to be able to resist animal print at the moment. Very strange.

Here I’m wearing it with converse boots (bought many many years ago in India), a long viscose skirt from H&M and a wooden second-hand bracelet, found in Chiswick (notice how I’ve colour-coordinated boots w. bracelet….wohooo).

Dressing the bump: new from H&M

So, the other day I finally reached a state of “oh my god I don’t have ANYTHING to wear”. I needed a quick fix and didn’t have enough patience nor time to rummage through numerous charity shops.

So instead I headed straight for the always helpful and cheap H&M, and apart from maternity leggings and tights (oh boy, are they comfortable) I came back with these three items in my shopping bag.

Neither of them are from the boring maternity range, I’ve simple bought a bigger size.

First up is this oversized grey polyester *shudder* poncho/sweater. It comes in off-white and dark blue as well. Price £14.99. I’ve paired it with a wool skirt, Carvela wedges and an old plastic necklace from a Wood-Wood fashion show.

I love this long cotton dress because of its crazy animal print-like pattern. And because it was reduced to £10 from £24.99.

Last up is this beige and black striped cotton dress. It’s very stretchy and sooo comfortable. It cost £14.99. Here I’m wearing it with a second-hand necklace and my beloved Shoe Biz boots.

Dressing the bump: second-hand Diane von Furstenberg dress

The observant reader may have noticed that this blog has taken a slight turn away from second-hand shopping towards comfort-food, comfortable footwear and cakes recently.

As a result I now have a baby bump to show for it (and a scanning just confirmed that it aint just a food baby :-))

Dressing the growing bump is becoming more and more difficult and I’ve had to sort through my closet to dig out everything oversized and stretchy and hide away anything with a waist.

I’m not a big fan of the high street shop’s maternity ranges (too cutesy and unimaginative) so I’m trying to make do with stuff from my closet for as long as possible.

Tonight I’m meeting up with some friends in Soho and I felt like wearing something cheerful. So I decided to see if I could still squeeze into this Diane von Furstenberg dress that I bought in Chiswick for £40 last year (here’s how it looked back then).

I made it into the dress and will enjoy wearing it tonight as I know it’ll become too small very soon.