Under Wraps in a Wrap Dress

Posted by Johneen Manning Jan 24, 2008

I've got to confess that the first thing I bought when I found out I was pregnant just over a year ago with my darling little daughter was a cherry red wrap dress from a local, decidedly non-maternity boutique. I should re-phrase that; the first thing I bought after I found out I was pregnant was a jar of Tums to relieve the killer heartburn I would suffer from for the next nine months. The jersey-knit, rouge, DVF-inspired wrap dress first fashionable thing I bought.

I was determined that I would do my very best to harvest as many of the pregnant-friendly fashions (which have been oh-so-trendy these past few years) for as long as I could. Sporting a wee bump that only my fiancé and I could see (admittedly, it looked more like I had just eaten a large meal), I wore the lovely size small Second wrap dress to a post New Year's party with red fishnet stockings, red peep toe shoes, a chunky red bobble necklace, and crimson lips. Talk about going monochromatic!

Then, almost nine months and thirty-five pounds later, in the sweltering summer heat, I wore the very same wrap dress with just a pair of black flip flops.

The moral of the story? The wrap dress is every woman's best friend. If a size small jersey knit dress can be flattering at four weeks pregnant (which visually looks the same as your pre-pregnancy size) and just a week or two before giving birth, it deserves to win the title of "most versatile, flattering dress ever."

And now, after having lost all of my baby weight thanks to the "too busy to eat" diet, I still enjoy wearing my little red cross-over dress.