Mom Fasion By: Jarita Wrede

I had just given birth two weeks prior to my third child. I was laying in bed on my cell phone googling, “Mom Fashion”. I asked myself is that even a thing? Not finding really anything helpful with my google search I tried another query. This time I typed in, “dressing to hide your belly”. This was a tad more helpful. I saw a few interesting ways to help camouflage my postpartum belly. Still nothing was jumping out to me. I even googled, “how to dress your jelly belly”. Black clothing flooded my search results. I decided then it was my personal goal to redefine “Mom Fashion” at least in my own little world. If you were to ask my family and friends what is something I love besides babies, mommin'{that is my new saying for everything now...}, and spending time with my own little family, they would say that I love FASHION. Ever since I was a little girl I loved it. I would spend hours sketching exotic fashion trends with my fashion plates, making my own paper doll clothing, and even creating dresses with safety pins and mom's doilies for my barbies. This admiration for expressing oneself with clothing grew over the years. In elementary school I had a penchant for layering. In fact at thirty two years old I still love to layer! I would emulate looks from magazines and try to recreate them with clothing from Goodwill. Growing up I was never afraid to embrace new trends.
When I became a mother for the first time I lost myself in a way. Not only did I have a newborn but my husband was deployed overseas. I was exhausted mentally, emotionally, and physically. This fashionista was defeated. I slowly adopted a mom uniform of “is this t shirt clean?” and “last night's pajama pants”. If I had to go somewhere it was yoga pants, tank top, and a sweat shirt. Sometimes I color coordinated my tennis shoes to the sweatshirt. This was my fashion norm for quite awhile. When my son was almost three I finally lost the last few pounds from my pregnancy with him. I was exercising at home and discovered clean eating. I started to take better care of myself. I made the time to put makeup on and do my hair. My husband was on yet another deployment but I found I had more time to get ready for the day as my son was older now. I realized that if I did not take care of ME then how could I effectively care for my son. I started buying clothing to fit my mommy body and started to find my style as it changed over the years. I learned there were a few trends I should never try and many that I definitely needed to. By this point I was pregnant with my second son. I really loved dressing the bump. Once he was born I remembered to not lose myself again and stuck with my routine of waking up and getting ready for my day. I had to make a few changes because time was precious but I still made sure I was taken care of and felt my best. For me this included my five minute make up routine, styling my hair, and putting on pants with a zipper.

In almost eight years I had three children and my body was definitely not the same as it was prior to having my new daughter. I was not bouncing back as fast as I thought I would. I ended up wearing my maternity clothing until she was four months old. Even with exercise and eating well I was not getting back into my old clothing. I ended up selling almost every piece of clothing I owned. I was told I was the biggest pay out at Plato's Closet in Killeen, Texas at that time. They paid me $289.00 for three trash bags of clothing. Armed with this cash I was going to replenish my wardrobe and move on with my mission to redefine “Mom Fashion”. Here is some tips to help You do the same. Invest in classic pieces that you can dress up or down and mix with your trendy items. I never splurge on trend items.

Also know investing does not have to mean expensive either. One of my favorite classic pieces are my cardigans that I buy at Walmart. They are incredibly soft. You also can not beat the less than $9.00 price tag. I have them in almost every color imaginable. I layer them over dresses in the spring, with tank tops and chino shorts in the summer, and over collared blouses in the fall and winter. It is a great way to add a pop of color. I always feel I am channeling my inner Jackie O in a cardigan over a knee length dress and nude colored wedges. Another must in your fab mom fashion arsenal should be a classic, fitted, white button down blouse. You can pair it with some dark boot cut jeans or a black knit ponte pant. Add a pair of leopard print flats {another classic item! Animal print never goes out of style} and some statement jewelry and you have yourself a classic, fashionable, and on trend outfit. Add a olive military style jacket or jean jacket and it can complete your look. You might notice that I suggest a lot of neutral colored clothing and not many prints.

My main reason is I personally have a frugal fashionista closet but I can mix and match every piece within that closet to create multiple million dollar looks. Now that search query of how to hide my jelly belly? I found wearing clothing that fit me was most flattering. Hiding behind sweatshirts and drawstring pants created the illusion that my body shape was not a shape at all. I create the illusion of a waist line with belts on my dresses or fitted dresses on the top with an a line skirt. I balance proportions with looser fitting tunics over leggings or skinny jeans because my legs are one of my best assets. I wear scarves in many prints and colors with a chambray top and skinny jeans. I also draw attention to my face with a bold lipstick color or eye catching chandelier earrings. My mom uniform this spring has been belted tank dresses with cardigans and nude colored sandals. I finish the look with the on trend tassel necklace or a classic pair of gold hoops. Adding accessories completes the outfit but remember what the great Coco Chanel recommended “Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and remove one accessory.” and “Less is always more”. I keep this in mind as I spray myself in perfume and give myself a glance over in my floor length mirror. Now this is just my personal style and yours could be very different. Above are just a few of my basic go to outfits. One thing I do when I buy a new piece is I will go to Pinterist and type what it is in and add ways to style to get inspiration. Sometimes this inspires new outfit of the day posts on my personal Instagram.

​I am always observing the latest trends and I don't indulge in them all. I have learned that just like everything we do in life we must stay true to ourselves. Style doesn't have a size. Wear what makes you feel like a goddess inside and out. Embrace every curve and line of your body. Hold close to your heart that mom doesn't mean martyr. Make time for you because your children will have Mommy at her best. The most beautiful and classiest of trends a woman can wear is her confidence.