While many offices have relaxed their dress codes a bit over the past two years, you may still find yourself in need of a suit sometimes — and that can get complicated when you’re pregnant. As we all know, maternity workwear can feel really limited, but stylish maternity suits (and even maternity blazers) are particularly lacking. It’s even tougher if you’re looking for plus sizes. (In fact, this is an update of an older post, and there are even fewer maternity suits and blazers available now than a few years ago.)
For those of you who needed a suit while pregnant, which brand was your favorite? If you’ve cobbled together a mismatched suit from separates, what are your tips?
Wondering where to find interview suits if you’re pregnant? We rounded up the VERY few options for maternity suiting! Favorite brands are represented above: one / two / three
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Some of our Latest Favo [this was what the autosave draft had]
- Seraphine: Their maternity workwear styles include two blazers and tailored black pants, like this under-bump slim-leg pair.
- Angel Maternity: The brand’s workwear includes suiting separates, including navy and black maternity pants (in sizes up to 3XL!), and this black blazer.
- Motherhood Maternity: The site has some suiting separates in their bi-stretch suiting line, but zero blazers as of May 2022. (The brand is also available at Amazon.)
- ASOS: ASOS’s maternity line has a few very affordable suiting separates, including this black maternity wrap blazer (lucky sizes only) and this other black wrap blazer (sizes 2–16)
- Isabella Oliver: The brand sometimes has suits or suiting separates — unfortunately, not as of May 2022. Its workwear section mostly consists of dresses.
- A Pea in the Pod: has some suit separates among their workwear
- Figure 8: offers various maternity brands, although the maternity suits category is currently empty, and the maternity career wear category contains a single Isabella Oliver blazer.
- J.Crew: The company has a collab with maternity brand Hatch, but currently, no suiting is available. Check resale sites for past styles. (Hatch itself doesn’t have any suiting on its own website.)
Check sites like eBay and Poshmark for maternity blazers and suits, particularly for hits from the past, such as maternity suits from Theory or Eva Alexander, or A Pea in the Pod‘s suiting line, and also search Etsy for vintage or new finds that might work.
Also, we’ve talked about rent maternity workwear in the past, but you can also buy “pre-loved items in excellent condition” from Rent the Runway, such as this maternity blazer from Soon Maternity.
I bought some maternity blazers in my first pregnancy, but in my second pregnancy (when admittedly I only gained the minimum weight), I found that my regular, non-maternity blazers fit up until week 38 or so.
What to Wear Instead of Suits When You’re Pregnant
Commenters have discussed this topic in the past, coming up with the following ideas for what to wear instead of suits when you’re pregnant:
1. Wearing a jacket (regular or maternity) with a work-appropriate dress
2. Buying non-maternity suits in a larger size (sometimes several sizes larger) and making do with a BellaBand for any fit issues with the pants.
3. Wearing neutral maternity bottoms (tailored maternity pants like this pair from Angel Maternity or a pencil skirt like this one from Emilia George) with a purposely non-coordinating, non-maternity blazer, such as something in tweed or linen
4. “Making a suit” out of almost-matching fabrics (not usually recommended, but you get a pass when pregnant)
- Some readers have said they’ve worn a long, tunic-y style maternity shirt so the blazer/pants purposely didn’t touch, preventing the mismatched fabrics from being obvious.
- Other readers went the other way and bought jackets longer than they normally wear, in fabrics that almost matched their maternity pants, since they thought that suited their pregnant frames better. (One particularly mentioned pairing Gap maternity pants with affordable Calvin Klein blazers-as-separates.)
Moms-to-be: Have you found stylish maternity suits you like(d)? If not, what have you been wearing as alternatives? Do you buy maternity blazers or simply wear your jackets unbuttoned?
Pictured above, some of the most stylish maternity pants for work as of 2022: one / two / three / four / five (not pictured but also – this Amazon seller also has good maternity basics)
Some of our favorite, must-have maternity dresses for the office as of 2022: navy / royal / navy / royal / black (not pictured, but also) (also check this new indie maternity workwear brand)
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shortperson says
i needed a real suit while i was pregnant for trial and client meetings, and i was enormous when i was pregnant — i could not have dealt with non maternity pants. i sucked it up and bought a theory suit from pea in the pod. yes, it was $700. but it was gorgeous, it was insanely comfortable, and i wore it all the time. the jacket goes with theory non-maternity stretch wool pants so at least that wasnt a total waste. if you already have a theory blazer you can probably hunt down matching maternity pants. pro tip: they dont typically sell their theory pieces on their website but many of the stores carry them. i bought a few rosie pope shirts to go with the suit. altogether i spent an insanity on it but i felt fabulous even though i had gained 50 pounds.
i also bought a cheaper suit from figure 8 maternity. (one of the ones that comes in sizes s, m or l. for a suit!) it was ok, but it cost about $150 and looked like a $50 suit quality. i wore those pieces too but they were not adequate for certain client meetings.
JJ says
Similarly, I had a federal jury trial when I was well into my second trimester with my second pregnancy. I bought a couple skirt suits (the federal judge was an older woman who only permitted female attorneys to wear skirt suits and hose…sigh) that were not maternity, but a few sizes larger than my previous size. I also bought a couple grey maternity suit jackets and one black maternity suit jacket, and alternated those with my skirts. I wore maternity tops underneath the unbuttoned jackets.
Kat G says
Out of curiosity was this recently? I’ve seen some Theory maternity pants online recentlyish at Shopbop, but I’ve never seen a maternity blazer. Still I’ll bet there are good finds on eBay for that kind of thing.
shortperson says
this was about 2 years ago. it was a normal theory blazer that was sold with theory maternity pants. if you already have a theory stretch wool blazer and can find matching pants no need to buy another blazer. i didnt so i just bought the one they were selling at pea in the pod. it was right before trial — i didnt feel like spending much time shopping!
ChiLaw says
Once I really looked pregnant, I just wore a black blazer over whatever dress and (I hope) a “don’t F with me, I’m pregnant and doing the best I can here” look. But also I was mostly in state court, so there was more leeway.
Anon says
I bought JCrew suits 2 sizes too big and had them tailored. I think it looked better than your typical maternity suit.
anon says
really depends how you carry. I couldn’t wear any non-maternity bottoms — even several sizes too big — after about 15 weeks (low bump very much in the front of my very long torso).
NewMomAnon says
And if you usually need to get your pants shortened, get your maternity pants shortened too. I didn’t (because the pants were low quality, it was only for a few months, blah blah blah) and I looked/felt like a wreck with sloppy, dragging pants. Tailoring would have been a really good investment at $15 per pair of pants.
Anonymous says
This thread makes me happy to be in Canada, where we still wear Robes to court! My firm has maternity robes that get passed around.
For non court events I just wore a maternity dress with a non maternity blazer on top.
lucy stone says
Plus size maternity suits ahahaha there is no such thing. I’ve been wearing maternity dresses with a regular blazer over them and nobody has batted an eye so far.
UpstateNYatty says
I mostly wore my regular blazers open over stretchy sheath dresses that I somehow zipped my pregnant body into. Add a statement necklace and heels and I felt pretty decent until the end. Or, I would wear maternity dress pants (Motherhood Maternity for the cheapies but boy did they look it after a few months), both maternity and non maternity loose tops, and the same open blazers. I don’t think I would have wanted to close a jacket over my belly even if it were a maternity size! Now 6 mpp I look worse than at 9 months!!
UpstateNYatty says
Is there a thread on pp work clothes?! I don’t want to look pregnant in maternity tops and dresses with ruching and belts, my regular clothes don’t fit, and sizing up is awkward too because of that pp belly!
Kat G says
Check this one out — very slim pickings for plus size maternity clothes, unfortunately:
http://corporettemoms.com/plus-size-maternity-clothes-for-work/