A reader wrote to me asking about “pregnant butch clothing”—maternity options for those who either identify as butch or at least dress a little less on the feminine side of things.
My spouse Helen (who doesn’t identify as butch, but has that aesthetic) spent very little on “official” maternity wear. She bought one pair of maternity overalls (high on butch factor), a few pairs of stretchy (but not “maternity”) sweat pants, and some larger shirts, and they seemed to suffice. She was lucky enough to work in a casual environment, though. Those of you who have to dress up for work might not be so lucky.
I thought I’d open this one up for your comments. I know I’ve seen a few posts here and there on the topic, so leave a link if you’ve already written about this, or write in a comment below.
Have you and/or your significant others found decent, non-feminine maternity wear? Surely there are more options than just enormous flannel shirts. Let us know!
I found some things I liked at the Gap and Old Navy. Most of the motherhood/maternity stores were all too girly for me (although I did buy a dress for a wedding we attended and despite my hatred for dresses, it was so comfy in the middle of summer).
Wow. This is an interesting topic. As soon as I’m able to post to FB I will share it in hopes of getting more responses.
I’m far from butch but still found most maternity wear too girly for me and remember thinking while I was pregnant that someone could probably make some money marketing clothes to butch pregnant women- or just pregnant women who don’t feel like wearing ruffles, flowers, or tapered cuffs. I found big men’s shirts and belly bands with my usual pants kept me going through most of the pregnancy and then toward the end I succumbed gender-wise but kind of stopped caring. And yet still managed to get called “sir” WHILE breast-feeding just a month or two after that; go figure.
Ten years on, I still get teased by friends for the overalls I wore for a little too long during my pregnancy…. That’s my What Not To Wear advice. ;-)
LOL! Well, I wouldn’t call Helen’s overalls exactly a fashion statement–but she tells me they were comfy.
Not EXACTLY on point, but I got a great plain, gray, unfrilly nursing nightgown. If it is possible to use the words nightgown and butch in the same sentence, this is the case. I’ll look up the brand tonight and post it.
I was able to find very nice, more or less butch corduroys & jeans @Motherhood Mat & Old Navy. I also wore a lot of button-downs that weren’t too bad. I was determined not to be too schlocky-looking for the whole pregnancy. That said, I was more than happy to get back into my regular clothes by 2 mos postpartum!!
It’s been awhile since this blog entry was posted but I wanted to chime in that I plan to by my wife,who is graciously carrying our child despite popular expectations that I would as the far more femme member of our marriage, clothing from Burberry. Their 2011 line of shirts can only be described as butch/andro lesbian chic with loose fitting plaid, denim, and cotton button downs with a tent-y feel to them. Just wanted to share some hopeful for insight for those looking for a designer solution to the horrifyingly-gendered maternity clothing dilemma in case someone else comes across this blog post months later like I just did.