Jodie Turner-Smith Is Proof That Pregnant Women Can Wear Whatever They Want

Jodie Turner-Smith was a breath of fresh air, and then some, on the BAFTAs red carpet. Not only was her custom-made, canary-yellow Gucci gown a fitting tonic to the sea of beautiful but staid black dresses on show, but she proved, point blank, that pregnancy doesn’t have to be a pin in the balloon of one’s personal style.

In fact, she went a step further. Her wardrobe on the Queen & Slim promo trail, which has included joyous faux-fur, a septum piercing and several choker necklaces, shows that a) you don’t have to become invisible when you’re expecting, and b) a woman, pregnant or not, should wear whatever she damn well pleases.

In response to trolls asking her to ‘cover up’ after the Graham Norton show, for which she wore a one-shouldered crop top and maxiskirt with her bump blooming out in between, Turner-Smith tweeted: ‘...gives zero fucks about your disdain for pregnant women’s bodies on British television’. She’s also been using the hashtags '#DidSomeoneSayMaternityWear?’ and ‘#BunInTheOvenButMakeItFashun’. Quite right, too.

‘Jodie Turner-Smith is something you don’t see very often: a hip pregnant woman,’ says The Times fashion editor Harriet Walker. ‘We rarely attribute coolness to mothers-to- be – society flips the switch from fabulous to frumpy the moment you conceive, and you lose a certain amount of your identity beneath all those empire-line tops and smocks.’

Turner-Smith has done the opposite. In no particular order, she’s worn a plissé-pleated gown with a latex choker (Gucci), a power pink minidress underneath a shaggy coat (also Gucci) and a snow-white gown fit for a goddess that took the shape of a cone (Reem Acra). The latter is a paid-up member of Turner-Smith's fan club. ‘I love Jodie’s style,’ says Acra, who specifically cut the actor’s dress on the bias to accommodate her bump. ‘I thought that the special colour of the dress with her accessories was the perfect combination.’

The BAFTAs dress, with its halter- strap neckline and glistening pleats, was the ultimate two-fingers up to haters who are trying to take away the right of pregnant women to look like, well, themselves. ‘I loved the dress, mainly because it wasn’t all about the bump,’ says Harriet. ‘It spoke of the woman more than the baby, and that’s the person who is most often overlooked during a pregnancy.’

The fashion editor's guide to pregnancy dressing

When it comes to third trimester dressing, not all budgets stretch to custom- made Gucci. The other issue, according to pregnant fashion editors who have done significant market research, is that maternity wear can be a little hit and miss. ‘I didn’t wear many maternity brands because the good ones are expensive and I didn’t feel that many catered to how I wanted to look,’ says Harriet Walker.

Instead, she shopped at the same high-street stores as always, but looked for loose silhouettes and bought much bigger sizes. ‘Smock tops and billowy shirts from COS and Toast, loose dresses from Kitri and men’s shirts from Gap’ were all on her shopping list, as was a simple grey marl T-shirt in XL. ‘I wore it with jeans under a silky kimono jacket,’ she remembers. ‘That was my go-to pregnancy outfit – and I still wear the jacket now.’

TV presenter and podcast host Laura Jackson took a similar approach. ‘Maternity dressing fitted in quite well with my usual style. I love oversized babydoll-esque dresses – and they worked perfectly for my bump,’ she says. What to wear post-birth proved slightly more problematic. ‘For me, it was breastfeeding clothes I found tricky. I still couldn’t fit into any of my trousers and was limited to what clothes would allow me to whip out a boob in under two seconds for feeding. Her solution? ‘Button-down dresses or elasticised trousers with a shirt.’

Another non-negotiable is what you wear on the bottom half with a bump. ‘You have to buy jeans and trousers from the mum-to-be section because nothing else will fit eventually,’ says Harriet, who recommends Isabella Oliver’s leggings and maternity jeans from H&M – ‘It’s the only place that does something other than a skinny,’ she says.

And finally, before shopping, don’t forget to ask friends for their hand-me-downs. One woman’s maternity jeans hell, after all, might be another’s heaven – and you can spend all the money you save on pregnancy massages.

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