At Peachymama, we are all about offering mums and mums-to-be a selection of fun, fashionable, and fabulous maternity and breastfeeding clothes. With it being a new year, we thought that it would be interesting to look back on how breastfeeding mums and mums-to-be used to dress compared to how they dress today.
The Early 20th Century
Despite corsets and girdles being all the rage at this time, there was a major push for women to conceal their female sexuality, something which pregnancy was associated with. Many women during this time would wear “maternity corsets” in an attempt to conceal their expanding waistlines and their dresses were often ruffled and included embellishments to hide the growing belly.
Breastfeeding mums must have had an even more difficult time. Keep in mind that this was a time when stretchy material did not exist. When combined with how higher necklines were in-fashion, mums would have had a very limited nursing wardrobe, particularly as the majority of women still only wore dresses (and what mum is going to try to wiggle a baby up her dress?).
The Mid-20th Century
Lucille Ball from the hit show “I Love Lucy” was credited as being the first woman to publicly show off her pregnancy, albeit while still wearing wide-waisted dresses. Maternity clothing was still scarce and breastfeeding-clothing was even more difficult to find. The 1970s brought about “maternity dresses” which often resembled tents, or colourful, patterned smocks. Breastfeeding rates in first world countries plummeted during this time.
The Late 20th Century
During this time breastfeeding rates began to climb again – and there were also a lot more fashions available on the market for both expecting and breastfeeding mums. Mums continued to dress more modestly in the 1980s, but the 1990s saw a major upswing in fashionable maternity and nursing attire that mums actually wanted, and were even excited, to wear.
21st Century Maternity And Breastfeeding Clothing
Never before has maternity and breastfeeding attire been so cutting edge and fashionable. Today, maternity and breastfeeding clothing has become its very own niche which is continuing to grow exponentially year after year.
Peachymama is excited to be a part of this industry and we are committed to delivering fashion-forward designs that breastfeeding mums will love wearing long after they’ve finished nursing. Our styles are designed specifically to flatter every curve of your body after your baby is born, and we have a number of tanks, tops and pants which can even be worn throughout your pregnancy.
See our latest styles at http://www.peachymama.com.au/collections/breastfeeding-dresses.
Further Reading:
https://www.whattoexpect.com/baby-products/maternity/history-of-maternity-fashion/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/a-brief-history-of-matern_b_156618?guccounter=1