Q&A with
Vanessa Knox-Brien and Baukjen de Swaan Arons, Co-Founders, Isabella Oliver

What is your background in maternity fashion?

We have had five pregnancies between us, so we have first-hand experience in what is needed for a stylish yet comfortable pregnancy. This is also how we recognized the gap in the market. Vanessa was a former head designer at Victoria's Secret and has a design background, Baukjen had a marketing background and our third business partner, Geoff, has a financial and operations background. So we had a nice set of complimentary skills.

What motivated you to enter the maternity fashion world?

We decided to launch Isabella Oliver as we couldn't find stylish essentials to wear during our first pregnancies. We were often stopped on the street by other pregnant women asking where we had bought our clothes so slowly we started to think that perhaps there was an unaddressed market out there.

What makes Isabella Oliver different from other maternity clothing lines? 

Isabella Oliver's designs feature wrapping and ruching as a signature style in luxurious jerseys and other pregnancy-friendly fabrics. Both wrapping and ruching are ideal for pregnancy as they create a fitted look at every stage of a pregnancy and work post pregnancy as well.

When was the Isabella Oliver Maternity line created? Has the design/style changed much since the line first came out?

We launched Isabella Oliver in October 2003 in the UK and in August 2005 in the US. We have stayed true to our message and some of the styles we originally launched with are still in the collection and continue to perform very well. Since our launch we have added many styles but all rare true to our original proposition of timeless classics.

How would you best describe Isabella Oliver's clothing line?

Timeless classics that are sexy and chic. Must have pieces for any pregnant woman who likes an elegant silhouette.