Reader Question: Dressing as a Mama

Today I’m answering a reader question about how I dress currently, now that I’m the mom of a little baby boy.

January: Can you share….how your style has changed after baby Feather, if any? I’m 6 months pregnant, with a 3 year old and I hate what I wear most days. Do you have any outfit ideas, especially for warmer weather?

I can say 100% that my style has changed after becoming a mom! I can confess that both my pajama and sweatpants/hoodie collections have increased exponentially. I rarely wear heels, delicate tweeds and embellishments are definitely a no-no, and I haven’t used a top handle handbag since giving birth.

I get dressed way more quickly than I used to, and I’ve gotten my day to day “mama” outfits down to a formula. Now that the weather is warming up, you’ll usually find me in either shorts and a top, or a dress, like the ones below. Here are a few typical spring outfits for me, with the components broken down below.

Easy dress… One that’s not too tight, slips on over the head, and machine washable to survive drool stains and spit up. Some waist definition is nice, like the drawstring on this one – but honestly I’d rather wear a trapeze dress and risk looking pregnant again than run around all day in a tight dress! I need to lift my arms over my head! This particular one is from Zara from a few years back – here’s another simple and chic tunic option, from Madewell.

+ Lower heels/flat sandals. Because I need to be able to walk!  The pair I’m wearing are older, from Cole Haan I believe – a similar option would be these whipstitched wedges from Jack Rogers (if you want to go a bit higher, try this cork version).

+ Crossbody or tote bag: I’m usually wearing either a tote or a crossbody bag – tote if I’m using a baby carrier, but otherwise I prefer crossbody, so that I can have both hands free. So I can easily pick up my baby boy, like below!

I’m wearing my Hermes Evelyne PM III bag here – another one that I like (which I think is a new iteration of a classic style), is this PS 1 pouch – I love the thicker strap, much more comfortable especially when running around all day. Yet another fabulous crossbody is this Fendi 3Jours – I recently saw it on a friend and it looked amazing on her, and it’d work for both work and casual.

As you can see, this particular outfit combination is comfortable, keeps me cool in warmer temperatures, and is very conducive for picking up and (loving) baby! And its polished enough for me never to feel sloppy in most situations.

Here’s another version of the outfit above, this time wearing the Madewell Courier dress (full review here).

Also, I’d like to note that while I love my Hermes bags, if I have baby Feather with me, I pretty much only use mine with a canvas strap – luckily I have a few that I use with my Kellys, Bolide, and of course the Evelyne. And, I just picked up one of these fun Fendi straps as well (review to come soon!). Wider, flexible straps can make all the difference in the comfort of a bag, I’ve found.

I’d love to hear how your styles changed after having children (if at all)…what do you wear most days?