This is a great article expressing how far women have come in fashionable attire during their most fabulous 40 weeks:

By: Rachel Patton
San Antonio Express-News

Tired of dowdy, frumpy clothes, pregnant women have begun flaunting their changing bodies over the last decade. (Think Kelly Ripa.) And form-fitting maternity clothes have become a norm.

"Women feel more confident in their bodies," says Jessica Gold, assistant to Liz Lange, designer of Liz Lange fashions (LINK).

"They know that being pregnant is sexy and is something to celebrate. It's not a time to be embarrassed about your body."

Today, expectant mothers have eagerly pushed aside times when their lives were put on hold during their pregnancies and have begun to wear the same styles seen on fashion runways.

While fashions in the past reflected a woman's desire to hide her body, today's fashions reflect their pride at becoming a new mother, says Yolanda Garza-Lopez, the southern Texas district manager of Motherhood Maternity Stores, a branch of Mothers Work Inc., the leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of maternity fashion in the United States.

"She's proud of her body, of herself and where she's at," she says. "She's taking a lot of pride in the state of her pregnancy."

Fashions that are fitted closer to the body show an attractive silhouette, which has become popular among pregnant women and led Motherhood Maternity to carry more of the form-fitting styles.

"We've turned to more stylish fashions that are focusing on a great fit," Garza-Lopez says. "In the past, there was very little selection, but now we are using whatever is out in regular retail and adapting it to fit into our maternity line.

"Our customer tells us she wants to wear the clothes she wore before her pregnancy, and that's what we're giving her."

The morphing of fashion worlds has something to do with society's view of pregnant women, says David Mangini, vice president of product and marketing for Mothers Work Inc.

"At one point, the woman was seen as keeping very low-key and out of the public eye," he says. "Today a woman has no intention of changing her lifestyle from before her pregnancy. She goes into the pregnancy with the same fashion sense she had before.

"Society has done a lot to say, 'Continue to dress like you felt like dressing before.'"

And today, if a pregnant woman wants to show a little belly, she can with one of the most popular fashion styles in maternity clothing: low-rise jeans.

Spring 2003 fashions still will include the low-rise jeans, which fit below the belly and accentuate the waist. Tunic-length blouses will emerge in soft, fluid pastels, pinks and lilacs and plenty of polka dot and plaid patterns, says Mangini.

Fashion also will adopt linen and a menswear influence but will keep the soft, feminine look. Dresses will include a rebound of last spring's popular styles: simplistic and soft. Bohemian styles also will be big, Gold says.

Yet, with the emphasis on fitted clothing, Gold says, women should be careful not to buy clothes that are too fitted for the sake of maintaining comfort.

"You should never wear your clothes skin tight," she says.

"When they're fit closer to the body, they're flattering, but you should be able to move around in your clothes. Everything we make has stretch in it so it expands as you grow."

More than anything, styles should make expectant mothers feel beautiful, says Janet Bennett, marketing director at Motherwear, a national leader in the nursing clothing industry.

"Women are looking for styles that are much more hip than what they used to be," she says.v "Before, they would wear clothes where you couldn't even tell there was a body. Now they're wearing what they would normally be wearing if they weren't pregnant and looking beautiful in a time when they might be feeling frumpy.

"They've begun to see that there is nothing more womanly than having a baby."

Source: http://www.azcentral.com/style/articles/0127pregnancy.html