Work clothes (esp. plus size / tall)

[ockeghem]

Does anyone have advice on finding suits or decent work clothes? I haven't been able to find anything so far.

I'm four months pregnant, and I'm a professional in a very conservative company. I really can't say anything about my pregnancy at work until I'm about 6 months pregnant (for bonus / raise reasons). I am tall and a bit overweight to start with; I've been able to get by in my old dresses (size 14 / 16) so far, but I'm at the point where I'm getting too big for my suits.

I've tried looking at the Gap, Pea in the Pod, Motherhood Maternity, and a local store here in Vancouver called Hazel that carries some Australian lines. Pea in the Pod doesn't carry anything I could have worn before my pregnancy -- their large is most stores' medium. The Gap's idea of "work" seems to be only empire-waist dresses -- nothing approaching a skirt suit. Hazel carried some jackets and skirts, but all the jackets but one were empire waist (which just emphasizes what I'm trying to cover) and all were made of cheap polyester. I need to avoid going into work in empire waist jackets or suits that suddenly look much cheaper than what I would usually wear.

I also tried a few plus-sized stores but none of those clothes seem to fit right -- they're way too big everywhere I don't need them to be big and they hang oddly, which also makes it look obvious that I'm buying clothes that are too big for some reason.

Does anyone have any suggestions? Or are decent suits just not available in maternity sizes, especially tall / large sizes? I'd prefer not to spend a fortune but if I have to do so I need to get just one suit that will get me through until at least my sixth month without looking too pregnant.

[vludmilla]

I am tall and I loved Isabella Oliver (British company). They were expensive and they don't make suits but they make very elegant and classy pieces that might work for you.

[vludmilla]

I stand corrected. They do make suiting now. Here is a link to some of it. http://www.isabellaoliver.com/maternity-clothes/maternity-suiting/D/30000/P/1:100:2130

[bubbaray]

Hazel will likely be your best bet in Vancouver (are they still open? I think the owner is suing the province over the Canada line construction).

Frankly, I did not wear suits when I was PG with either girl and I got away with it. I'm a lawyer and separates worked just fine. I found a couple of matte knit skirts that worked well with my suit jackets. I had a couple of dresses and then the rest were pants and blouses.

[ockeghem]

Yes, Hazel is still open -- they moved off Cambie and over to Main, which actually is a better location. Unfortunately they just had the one jacket that wasn't empire waist, and it wasn't cut well & the fabric wasn't great. They had some other cute stuff -- I'll go back when I'm out of the closet at work.

Thanks for the link to Isabella Oliver -- I may try the suit jacket to see if it works.

I work in financial services; I think once I can announce my pregnancy I'll be okay in dresses, and empire-waist will be fine then. I'm looking forward to that -- freedom from nylons and heels would be lovely, too. Just until then I have to be careful not to give any hint that I'm pregnant (which anything empire waist is doing right now) -- which would give them enough notice that they can easily plan to "reorg" me and reallocate my budget while I'm gone, since we're now in budget / review / promotion season. Lately they've been pretty good at finding ways to reorg new mothers at the professional level out of the company, and now really isn't the time to be looking for a new job. *sigh*

Finding clothes that look "normal" while I'm starting not to look normal has been my challenge, alas. The Gap stuff works beautifully on casual days because the maternity styles are very similar to the regular Gap clothes so no one suspects, but it doesn't work for presentations to the executive committee, unfortunately.

Thanks!

[MontrealMum]

This comes with a caveat, I am ony 5"7" and I don't live in Vancouver (other end of the country) but I had a need for a suit while pregnant, and basically gave up. :( Canadian options seem to be fewer than in the US.

I made do with business separates (just don't button the jacket!) and mostly casual (as my life was mostly that, only sometimes needing a suit or separates). One thing that was very surprising to me after I returned to school (I was a grad student and finished the year 6 mos preg) is that NOONE knew that I was pregnant unless they had been told. Generally, I wore maternity bottoms at that stage paired w/ lots of larger sized normal tops. I am not sure if this will work for you because I don't know if you're a 14/16 all over or just the bottom like many women, but I was able to size up about 2 sizes in tops/blazers and still fit into many normal professional tops. I am normally around an 8/10 on top so I this is not familiar territory for me, but Melanie Lyne maybe? I also took advantage of the trend towards peasant blouses, "swing" jackets, and other less structured looks. Banana has some nice tailored shirts which have lycra so you can still move and they apparenetly disguised the bump too.

Don't waste anymore time on A Pea in the Pod! Besides not having the right size, they are totally overpriced and mostly made of polyester. After having seen them touted in In Style etc. I was severely dissapointed. I expected more for having to pay so much - and actually found nicer stuff at Old Navy at times - WTF!!! Have you looked into dresses/skirts? I found some very nice (though expensive) ones at Nordstrom online. Mind you, I have parents in the States that can then ship things to me, (Nordies doesn't ship to Canada but do accept Can. cc.) but if you have a friend w/ a US address...and I actually found some very nice things at the Bay to my surprise in their maternity section.

the other thing I cannot recommend further - do you have a Bella band (or equivalent knockoff)??? It allowed me to wear regualar pants/skirts until about the 5/6th month before moving into elastic band maternity wear fulltime at about the 7th month. I think they sell them at Milkface in Ottawa online, but I'm sure they have them at places in Vancouver too.

[ockeghem]

I'm a 14/16 all over. Even worse now because I've gained 2 bra sizes in the last 4 months, so I can barely move my arms in my old jackets. :-) So going up sizes in normal clothes won't work, but on the other hand I tried on a size 14 plus-sized jacket at one of the outlets down in Seattle last month, though, and it was way too boxy and looked silly -- not cut for someone with my particular body right now.

I'll try Nordstrom. My sister lives in Seattle so I'm down there a lot, but I didn't realize they had maternity clothes. Same for the Bay -- I haven't been in there for a while, and wasn't looking for maternity, so I'll try stopping by there tomorrow.

I too have been good with peasant blouses and swing dresses outside work (ideeli just had a sale on some Michael Kors swing dresses so I stocked up -- the one I have from last summer still works). I also have a Bella Band (courtesy of my sister, who just had her first -- thank heavens, because without it I wouldn't have hiking pants right now) and an okay black knit skirt from Old Navy that I could probably get away with wearing with jackets. The jackets are just my problem now. :-)

Unfortunately on the Isabella Oliver -- just tried to order the jacket and they only stock up to size 10.

But it's great to have all these suggestions -- lots of places to look. Thanks!