Fashion Industry Discriminates Against Pregnant Ladies

At the risk of sounding snobby and petty and vain, I need to gripe about the dearth of quality maternity clothes available for pregnant ladies.

The options suck.

For some reason, purveyors of maternity wear have decided that my people must wear clothing of synthetic fabrics. They refuse to line our pants. They charge us a multiplier of what normal people would have to pay. And they have reduced us to only a handful of decent options, like Japanese Weekend, and Noppies, and...that's all I can think of. I'm told The Gap sells good stuff. I'm being unreasonably snobby about shopping at The Gap in this time of crisis. I feel like an Andy Warhol print when I shop at The Gap, wrapping myself in clothing for the masses. But it's not like I've never shopped there. And I buy clothes at Target, which is practically the same thing.

I'm no fashionista, but I do really love and appreciate good clothes. I care. I miss my wardrobe. I'm used to wearing a suit every day and the lack of quality career clothes is especially problematic. This is killing me. I am having a wardrobe meltdown several times a week. The "nice" jacket that I paid way too much for at Mimi Maternity is made of acetate or something. Pea in the Pod masquerades as this upscale shop for professionals, but it's all just rubbish, too, and their sizing is all screwy--I've been burned now three times on items I ordered from them online. I tried on two suits at Nine, a local maternity resale shop, and even though they purported to be my size, they were too small--the jacket didn't button around my boobs or my belly, and the waistband on the pants didn't stretch far enough. What good is a maternity suit if it only fits for the first four months? It's not like I'm an absurdly huge pregnant lady or something. I'd be in complete crisis were I not lucky enough to have been loaned some great clothes from my sister and some good friends. But they don't wear suits to work.

Further, I do understand, design-wise, why it makes sense to cut the necklines low, which helps accommodate a pregnant lady's ever-growing boobs. But it would be nice to wear a dress to work in which I'm not showing off all of my cleavage. Even if I am kind of proud of it.

Why doesn't anyone care about us? It's awkward enough to deal with my changing body day to day, and it doesn't help to feel frumpy on top of it. The wish list is simple. Give us some quality fabrics. Help us keep our boobs inside our dresses. Line our pants and jackets. And if you are going to charge us an arm and a leg for our clothes, give us what we are paying for.