Maternity evening dress needed

[harrietking100]

Hi, I am currently 9 weeks pregnant, and will be going to a posh dinner in 3 months time and need a posh dress. Where is best to look for inexpensive evening maternity dresses? Or does anyone have something (long) in a size 8 or 10 I could borrow for one night (I will pay to have it dry cleaned!)

[womanofdulwich]

you will only be 5 months pregnant so you may not be that large- it might be better to get posh dress that is just a size larger which does not have a waistband- but comes in under your bust. if it is really posh i think there are a few hire shops in knightsbridge but sorry cant rememebr their names.

[DVnewbie]

If you are an 8/10 and it's baby number one (and you have good abs!), I reckon wear a normal one but just one that isn't fitted round the waist... As womanofdulwich suggests, and empire one should be fine. If you can get away with a "cocktail" dress, Reiss normally do lovely ones that are loose round the middle - expensive but at least you can wear it post-pregancy - not sure what they have in now though. Otherwise, maybe get a quite plain maternity dress and dress it up with jewellery and heels to make it looks smarter so you can wear it for less formal occasions? Top Shop or Dorothy Perkins (don't scoff! they have some ok bits) - even New Look - it just depends what their stock is like this season as to whether you'll find anything nice. Or get some nice/more expensive black trousers that you can wear for work/other stuff too - and a strapless top plus lots of jewellery etc. Isabella Oliver do lovely maternity tops but they are expensive (by the way, don't like the trousers at all - the ones I got went really baggy round the knees withing 2 hours of wearing them). Not sure if Zara are doing maternity stuff still but I got a lovely silk knee length black dress from them - that I have worn twice (once per pregnancy so not a great investment at ?50).

[BeccaL]

Bias cut dresses are quite forgiving as well - Monsoon sometimes have some nice ones.

[Yak]

Agree with all the above - worth looking at "normal" clothes and staying in them as long as possible, in my experience! A lot will depend on your body shape and where your bump sits on you, but at 4/5 months pregnant an elegant, long dress (possibly in one size bigger) from a regular retailer might work well. Or Asos has an online maternity collection which isn't too expensive or frumpy. But it might not be dressy enough for a posh dinner.

I second the suggstion to buy some nice accessories - by the time your are 9 months pregnant the only way to feel and look half decent is by wearing necklaces and brooches etc!