Pregnancy Styling Tip: Vests & Bodycon Dresses

Shop Shannon’s Outfit

Outfit Details:

Dress: Forever21 {similar here, here & here} | Vest: SheInside {buy here} | Booties: Boutique {buy similar here, here, here, here & here} | Cross-body bag: Nordstrom {buy here} | Watch: Michael Kors {buy here} | Pearl Bracelet: Buy here | Bar necklace: Buy here | Sunnies: Nordstrom {buy here; buy the real deal here}

K guys – if you follow me on Instagram, it’s no secret that one of my go-to looks since being prego, especially on Sundays (#churchlife) is a body-hugging (bodycon) midi dress with a vest. Now, allow me to explain why…

• Why the vest, you ask? Oh, because turns out I’m not one of these fortunate pregnancy unicorns who stays slim and trim everywhere besides their growing belly. MY reality is that I have back fat for days when I’m pregnant, and that ish ain’t pretty (for real you guys – it’s bad. And you’re welcome for that visual. #grosssss). Solution: a VEST. It covers the back and the sides (#lovehandles) without adding extra bulk to the arms – another area that tends to blow up for me when I’m pregnant.
  • Extra styling tip: go for long vests. It has an extra slimming and elongating effect, and it covers the bum and hips so that you don’t have to worry about those areas if you’re wearing a tight dress. A blazer or long cardi can work too (like here and here)!
  • Favorite places to buy vests: Sheinside has had some really good, very inexpensive vests. I’ve also bought long vests from Anthropologie, Nordstrom, Ruche, and River Island.
    

    Shop Vests

    

• Why the bodycon dresses, you ask? Because when you’re prego and already carrying around more body volume and in my case way more girth too, I think you actually look smaller by wearing things that are more snug. I tried to rock the empire waisted, loose fitting dresses in my first pregnancy, and I found that the fabric would hang off my enormo belly like a tent, and I would just look huge you guys – like I’m having quintuplets huge. No joke – people would like act alarmed by my size (#rudes). I’ve avoided those types of dresses with this pregnancy because I’ve found that they’re just not as flattering. Sticking primarily with bodycon dresses has actually made me feel and probably look just a little bit smaller.
  • Extra styling tip: I recommend going for midi length. Again, unless you’re one of those lucky pregnancy unicorns whose legs stay all twiggy twigs and toned, a midi dress will be more flattering than the shorter styles. Maxi dresses can be good too as long as they don’t swallow you whole. Midi is my personal sweet spot.
  • Sizing Note: If it’s not an actual maternity dress (and most of mine aren’t), I buy all my form-fitting dresses in size LARGE. Now, that’s coming from a lady who really does expand everywhere when I’m knocked up, but thought that might help as a reference point. Most of my bodycon dresses are from Forever21 (which tends to run small in my opinion), so Large was the way to go for me. When it’s an actual maternity dress, I’ve still had to size up just to accommodate expanding hips (#awesome).
  • Favorite places to buy bodycon dresses: Hands down, Forever21. They’re inexpensive, they’re usually pretty basic, and most of them have lots of coverage. Only con is that they’re not actually maternity dresses, so you just have to remember to majorly size up. Other good places to buy: Asos, Destination Maternity, Nordstrom, Isabel and Oliver.

  Shop Body-con Dresses

  

• Examples: Below are some of the ways I’ve rocked this look. If you don’t have an account with LiketoKnowIt, you guys – GET ONE! It will allow you to shop all of these ensembles and future looks posted on Instagram right from your email inbox. Takes 2 seconds to create an LTK account, and if you want more info on how it works, check out this post and this post. Doooooooo it!
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Hope that helps my fellow prego sistas! Have a Terrific Tuesday!

Thanks for reading. xoxo