In college, a friend of mine put on a dress and said she hoped it would draw the eye up to her chest and down to her legs, distracting from her midsection.

It was the only time I heard someone articulate a goal that is central to women's fashion -- accentuating your good points, downplaying the trouble spots.

Mine have changed.

I had to lug my carcass uptown today to shop at the only "real" maternity store in Manhattan (if anybody knows of any others, I'm all ears; variety is nice). I got some jeans, a sweater, and some clothes for Miami, where I'm headed in a couple of weeks.

The shorts and short skirts (not sluttishly so, just above the knee a few inches) that used to look good on me? Now they make me look like a heifer.

The dresses with kind of a wrap top that I used to, um, not fill out? Now they look blossomy.

So I left the heifer clothes in the stall and bought the blossomy dresses.

My mother didn't raise any fools.

Comments

Poppy said…
Hmmm, only one real maternity store in Manhattan?! That's very hard to believe. Shopping mecca of the universe, no?! Is no one allowed to be pregnant there?! :)
9:08 AM
Bearette said…
Yes, it kinda seems like no one is pregnant here! There's a maternity "section" in an Old Navy nearby, but it's pretty sparse.
9:20 AM
bdogg_mcgee said…
Heck yes! Show off those newly acquired assets!! :)
9:22 AM
Roxanne said…
I've heard that Old Navy has some cute maternity clothes. Not sure if your's has a section or not, but it's worth a try. :)
9:26 AM
Roxanne said…
Umm, yeah. Disregard that suggestion. ;)
9:28 AM
Anonymous said…
Wow, everyone around here is pregnant, but only if they're under 20 :(

I can't help you out with maternity stores in Manhattan specifically, but I think Target sells maternity clothes too (read, inexpensive?).
9:29 AM
Bearette said…
Bdogg - hee ;)

Roxanne - I do that all the time.

Kitkat - under 20, wow. There's a Target in the Bronx, but it's such a hike :(
9:39 AM
Tracy said…
I hear that some people keep their blossomed boobage even after the baby... so perhaps you'll be able to fill out lots of new clothes!!
10:28 AM
Bearette said…
That would be good :)
11:23 AM
Caro said…
I remember my first pregnancy when my boobs got big before the rest of me. Unfortunately they didn't do that with the next two. :-(
6:36 PM
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