Bump It Up: Transform Your Pregnancy into the Ultimate Style Statement
208
Bump It Up: Transform Your Pregnancy into the Ultimate Style Statement
208eBook
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Overview
In this witty and accessible pregnancy primer to all four trimesters, career fashionista and mother of two Amy Tara Koch offers easy ways for moms-to-be to pop out of the preggo pits and pull together dozens of jaw-dropping maternity ensembles—without breaking the bank. This timeless style manifesto features sketches from today’s most popular fashion designers, including Nicole Miller, Diane von Furstenberg, Donna Karan, and Isaac Mizrahi, as well as tips and tricks from Koch and her “A-list”—a roster of fashion editors, beauty gurus, and celebrity stylists. Packed full of clever quizzes, skin care secrets, and a handy glossary of terms that every pregnant woman needs to know, Bump It Up will have you putting on the glitz throughout your pregnancy and beyond.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780307780348 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Random House Publishing Group |
| Publication date: | 03/09/2011 |
| Sold by: | Random House |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 208 |
| File size: | 12 MB |
| Note: | This product may take a few minutes to download. |
About the Author
In addition to her media presence, Koch is a speaker and consultant whose clients include Macy’s, P&G, Unilever, Frederic Fekkai, Starbucks, Foote, Cone & Belding, and the McDonald’s Corporation.
Koch has also held posts at Paper, Mademoiselle, and BCBG Max Azria and has handled celebrity relations, events and fashion marketing for luxury brands such as Allure, Van Cleef & Arpels, Bottega Veneta, Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, and Sony.
Koch lives in Chicago with her husband, Peter Gottlieb, and their daughters, Isabella and Brette.
Read an Excerpt
INTRODUCTION
From Miu Miu to Muumuu
In the beginning there were skinny jeans. Body-skimming knits cavorted with tailored trousers and thigh-grazing dresses in the streams and valleys.
Silky G-strings and non-industrial-sized support bras tilled the fields. Stilettos roamed the earth. And it was good.
Then came pregnancy. Slim-cut ensembles were cast from Eden. Muumuus took control of the land. The seas swarmed with jumbo sweatpants and sensible shoes.
And it was not so good.
It’s no secret that pregnancy doth not bring out one’s inner glamour girl. Hormones flow, stomachs protrude, and once-clear complexions zigzag with “nonspecific dermatitis.” Workouts are traded in for TiVo. A nondescript sack filled with Cheetos replaces the once-chic hobo. And fashion obsessions are usurped by fantasies of tucking into a vat of buttery mac and cheese. Yes, denying one’s fashion instincts and reaching for your fat pants—those baggy sweats in your bottom drawer reserved for sitting about the house on Sundays—is a natural response to pregnancy. As a career fashionista (I have served as Chicago Tribune style columnist, a trend reporter for NBC, and a style expert for USA Today and Vogue), I envisioned my pregnancy following in the chic, minimally swollen footsteps of Gwen, Heidi, and Gwyneth. But as the first twelve pounds wrapped themselves around my midsection, I began to cave. The urge to hide in jumbo-sized clothing was overwhelming. I garbed myself in my husband’s button-downs. Over sweats. Yoga pants became to-the-office pants. One morning, in my tenth week, I glanced at my dumpy reflection in the mirror as I left for work. In my expansive, dog-walking pantaloons-and-sweatshirt combo, I bore an uncanny resemblance to my potato-picking Russian ancestors. There was no question. The Baggy Belarus look had to go.
I hit my local chain maternity store. Nausea washed over me. Where were the sportif strapless dresses and va-va-voom bejeweled shifts worn by the current spate of knocked-up celebs? The pricey drawstring pants (paired with ONE HOT MAMA tees), drab button-downs, and decidedly non-Tory Burch tunics were simply not the look that I had in mind. I waddled to Starbucks and pondered my fashion future. I had built a career on style. How could I allow my self-esteem and professional credibility to be eradicated by polyester-blend leisure wear?
Then I had an epiphany: Forget investing my unborn child’s college tuition on a full-blown maternity wardrobe. Bump-savvy celebs were not miracles of nature. They had simply mastered the high art of mix-and-match fertility fashion, a combination of must-have maternity with easy civilian silhouettes that embraced and enhanced their bump. I might lack Gwyneth’s gene code, but a decade of covering fashion shows and interviewing beauty gurus gave me confidence that I, a scrappy five-foot-four editrix, could eschew pregnancy’s frump factor and step up to the fashion plate.
I knocked back some Tums and got down to the business of reworking my existing wardrobe. Skinny jeans, skimpy tops, and anything that made me look and feel like five pounds of bologna in a one-pound bag were packed away; empire-waist dresses, tunics, and other bump-friendly silhouettes were positioned front and center. Lycra (from my mom’s Jane Fonda days) became my second skin. Big baubles were my new best friends. And eye-catching accents—vintage jackets, exotic reptilian bags, capes and shawls, colorful thigh-length sweaters, hardware-laden oversized totes—were my joie de vivre. I cast Pucci-esque innerwear as outerwear, skirts as dresses, and chain belts as necklaces. I revisited seasons-old wrap dresses and off-the-wall knits from storage. I raided Grandma’s closet for Jackie O scarves and quirky accents like Peruvian coin belts and carved jade pendants. Later, when my bump materialized for the whole world to see, I purchased only core maternity items that could be accessorized for every occasion—a pair of designer pregnancy jeans, a super-long, stretchy black tank top, maternity tights, a chic maternity pencil skirt, and one pair of multitasking black trousers. I bought non-maternity pieces—black bias-cut and empire-waist jersey dresses (cleverly cut to accommodate a bump), a groovy, unstructured sweater/shawl, an early DKNY leather tunic—that would work during my pregnancy and beyond. I borrowed maternity and non-maternity items from friends. I took the fashion credo “God is in the details” to heart and had a blast “super-accessorizing.” The key to preggo chic? Creativity. Effort. And the commitment to pushing the sartorial envelope even as you feel your breakfast rising in your throat.
Bump It Up is a cheat sheet to chic, a pregnancy primer that shows moms-to-be how a handful of wardrobe basics can yield dozens of jaw-dropping maternity ensembles. The book’s breezy, tip-filled format and fashion cartoons are designed to help you, my pregnant friend, glean, trimester by trimester, style information before “PADD” (pregnancy attention deficit disorder; see Preggo Glossary) kicks in. A checklist system based on three crucial points—the Uniform, Add-ons, and Wow Factor—fine-tunes for pregnancy the editorial concept of garment rotation. Armed with the basics and a flair for the dramatic, pregnant women can create maximum style with a minimum investment in maternity-specific clothing. To visually emphasize this point, I called upon fashion designers such as Nicole Miller, Donna Karan, Milly, Diane von Furstenberg, and Isaac Mizrahi to create original sketches that showcase pregnancy silhouettes that are at once fashionable and functional. We’re all obsessed with fashion mags and celebrity tabloids. To get you, dear reader, the most in-the-know tips on the planet, I stepped behind the scenes of the glossies and canvassed the real style mavens—designers, editors, publicists, and socialites—responsible for launching trends among celebrities and the stylists who assemble them. In “Advice from the A-list,” high-profile beauty and fashion folks share the experiences that enabled them to finesse the incredible bulk of pregnancy. And for those who are served up hormonally induced lumps and bumps instead of the coveted pregnancy glow, celeb skin gurus weigh in on how you too can tap into that (faux) radiance.
PREGGO GLOSSARY
The moment the double lines of your pregnancy test confirm your bun-in-the-oven status, you are privy to a cornucopia of new vocabulary. Sharing these terms with other moms and moms-to-be is your ticket to an elite members-only club.
BABYMOON the “last hurrah”-themed vacation usually taken in the seventh month of pregnancy (since flying is not recommended after the seventh month)
BLAST OFF serious gas released (by you) into the environment—retreat, retreat!
BOOBAGE showing extreme cleavage
BOYFRIEND JACKET a longer, slightly structured blazer that features men’s tailoring, e.g., lapels
CAKE-AND-BAKE the tragic phenomenon of a woman who has applied too much bronzer
CAMOUFLAGE CLOTHING loosely fitting non-maternity garments with flowy fabrics, skillful draping, and generous pleats used to hide trimester 1 poundage
CARB LOADING the inability to feel well unless consuming Wheat Thins, pretzels, cinnamon-raisin bagels, or coffee cake
CIVILIAN CLOTHING Non-maternity garments
CONTRACTIVE TOURETTE’S SYNDROME a temporary condition characterized by uncontrollable cussing during the early stages of labor
DEFCON 4 the secret alert code to husband and friends to find a bathroom ASAP so you can avoid an explosion that will threaten national security
DESPERATION CLOTHING garments that you would absolutely retch at in a non-pregnant state but that you purchased in a stress-induced state
DOWDIFIER an item that imparts a frumpy look (e.g., septuagenarian-style loafers, sweatpants, oversized tent shirts)
FAT PANTS elasticized and oft unattractive pants for days when you feel too huge to squeeze into anything else
FAUX GLOW artificially induced radiance designed to mimic the sun-kissed luminosity of A-list celebrities (e.g., J. Lo)
FLOWY CLOTHING loosely fitting garments that cascade over pregnancy bulges (from the last rib to the hip), camouflaging the early stages of pregnancy
FRUMP PATROL the once-over you must give yourself in a full-length mirror to eliminate dumpy elements from selected outfit
GARMENT ROTATION an editorial concept involving skillful rotation of basics with accessories to create dozens of smashing looks
INVESTMENT PIECE a garment or accessory that you can rationalize spending lots of money on because of its timeless appeal and your faith that it can be worn for decades
LAYERING the strategic juxtaposition of basic items of clothing and accessories that transform mere garments into a look
LAYETTE teeny, tiny, to-die-for coming-home-from-the-hospital ensemble for the baby
LBD the little black dress that works for almost every occasion
MEX HEX the uncontrollable urge to score enchiladas and guacamole
MUFFIN TOP The unattractive blubber that hangs over a waistband when pants are too tight and/or tops are too short
“NOW AND LATER” clothing that works both during pregnancy and afterward in your starring role as mom
PADD pregnancy attention deficit disorder, a temporary affliction that impedes a pregnant woman’s ability to focus on activities (except eating) for more than twelve minutes
PREGNANCY BRAIN forgetfulness that leads to the weekly loss of one’s wallet, cell phone, and prescription eyewear
PREGNANCY MASK hormonally induced dark spots that can form around the mouth and eyes
PUSH PRESENT that special congratulatory bauble awarded to new moms for providing hubby/partner with his bundle of joy
STRUCTURED CLOTHING fabulous but non-preggo-friendly clothing featuring a tight fit and sharp tailoring—e.g., nipped-and-tucked jackets, straight-leg trousers, and blazers equipped with linebacker shoulders
SUPER-ACCESSORIZING editorial term for hard-core layering involving mixing and matching bangles, cocktail rings, oversized tote, and groovy belt into one look
VPL visible panty lines: a definite no-no
Table of Contents
Introduction: From Miu Miu to Muumuu ix
Preggo Glossary xix
1 Trimester: Bloated on the Bias 1
2 Trimester: Channel Your Inner Fashion Editor 45
3 Trimester: Large and In Charge 137
4 Trimester: Lighten Up! 161
Keeping It All Together 183
Acknowledgments 184
Resources 185