A sartorial lesson relearned

Not all maternity clothes are created equal. I finally broke down and started wearing my maternity clothes (tops in addition to bottoms), and some of them are just awful.

And by "some," I mean just about everything that I bought from Old Navy. For example:

• The maternity jeans don't stay up. Perhaps I should give them another try now that I am a bit bigger in the belly area, but it's difficult to work up motivation to wear uncomfortable clothing.
• I'm having trouble imagining a world in which I would be tempted to wear the black trousers. Perhaps they would be appropriate in a world without standards and expectations.
• The maternity tops make me feel like I'm wearing something that is 6 sizes too big. Perhaps I will appreciate this roominess in a couple/few months, but for now, I just feel frumpy.
• The tags on the tops could also be used as torture devices. Ladies, break out your stitch ripper or a pair of scissors with sharp points because those tags have to come out.

In the beginning, I thought that Old Navy was the best place to buy maternity clothes. After all, Old Navy is a good store for buying cheap, disposable clothing, and those are qualities I thought I wanted in maternity clothes. As it turns out, however, pregnancy has not eliminated my sartorial vanity, and cheap and disposable are the last qualities that I want in my maternity (or any) clothing.

My clothing from the Gap is significantly better than my Old Navy clothing, but the best clothing of all is from A Pea in the Pod. Now, I probably wouldn't have even attempted to shop there (due to the high prices), but I received a wonderful and thoughtful gift card for Christmas, so I jumped in and bought a few pieces from their online store.

And I love them. "Stylish" is perhaps going too far, but they are stylish enough, considering the physical limitations with which I am working. They are much more fitted than the Old Navy pieces, and the fitted look is perfect while my bump is still in the cute phase. I'm not sure how they will look when I move from the cute phase to the big-as-a-mountain phase, but I have confidence that they are designed to grow with me.

I was initially put off by the Pod's high prices, but I shopped only the sale items, and the prices were comparable to Gap sale prices. I liked my pieces so much that I returned for a second order. I got free shipping on both orders, and they were offering a 10% off promotion for my second order, so I saved even more.

I don't know how many times I have to learn this lesson before it will stick, but I have learned it once again: Buy only clothing that you love, even if you're going to be able to wear it for only 4 months.