What is a "mom"? Well, literally, it’s a woman who has a child or children. But it comes with such a load of other associations! Before having children, when I conjured up the mental image of a “mom” it looked something like this: old, either totally not cool or trying too hard to be cool, drives a minivan, spends most of her time picking up or dropping off children from soccer practice, knows how to make a great boxed lunch, mostly stays home and cooks and cleans the house.
Dated, right? Or is it? I should note that the same mental image does not come to mind for “woman.” She can wear a suit and go to work on Wall Street, but once she pops a baby out it’s back to the 1950s. I am certainly not the only woman to have made this observation. I highly recommend this pertinent article in Motherly titled "It's 2022, but for American mothers, it's still the 1950s."
So how does this relate to clothing, Elena? Thank you for asking. You see, clothing is an expression of our identity. Even if you “don't care about clothes” your choices reflect your identity. If you wear sweats every day that says something about you, if you wear Carhartts or old 501s it says something else. Similarly, if you choose to dress like a Stepford wife, there is nothing wrong with that, but it conjures up certain associations and probably reflects some of your values.
What bothers me is not that some women prefer floral dresses to the Phoebe Philo aesthetic, but rather that the entire maternity clothing industry seems to be pushing the back-to-the-1950s agenda. Let me demonstrate:
Before we are pregnant, we can be sophisticated and masculine in Celine, or edgy and arty in Acne Studios, or minimal bohemian in By Malene Birger.
Above: A look from the Philo era Celine and today's Acne Studios.
Cool right? Well, dare to grow a baby bump and now look what we get served (please also note that the names of these brands are literally "Pink Blush Maternity" and "A Pea in the Pod" 🤮).
Now again, if serene, smiling, bump-cupping models wearing pink floral dresses make you want to open your wallet and BUY, you will get no judgment from me here, but luckily the market already has you covered.
What I am out to create here is something for the women who don’t want to undergo a 180-degree identity shift just because they are having a baby.
And you thought this was a clothing brand? Ladies, this is a MOVEMENT.
