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Despite a wardrobe bursting full of dresses pre-pregnancy, I was hit with a very unexpected urge to wear maternity trousers for almost my entire pregnancy. Perhaps it was because my bump felt safely coccooned in them. Perhaps it was because they highlighted my new shape without drowning it. Perhaps it was to contradict the traditionally ‘mumsy’ aesthetic. Or perhaps it was all three! Whatever the reason, I couldn’t get enough, and having spoken to many of my pregnant friends it seems I’m not the only one.
And while, during pregnancy, it can be very easy to live in the best maternity jeans or maternity leggings, there’s something about maternity trousers in particular that feels slightly less obvious, less cliché.
Allowing much more of your own personal style to show, they can be a real game-changer when it comes to your confidence in pregnancy.
Many pregnant woman will attest that you don’t necessarily feel like your best self throughout the nine months you’re carrying, but you can still tap into and lean on capsule wardrobe heroes to help. A flattering and comfortable pair of maternity trousers are ideal – you just have to know where to look for them.
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The best maternity trousers, at a glance:
Instantly making you look like you mean business, maternity trousers are great for the office, where denim doesn’t really cut it. They’re also essential for achieving that ‘quiet luxury’ aesthetic – just look at poster girl (and our current maternity style girl crush) Jennifer Lawrence, who pairs hers with a simple white tee and unbuttoned shirt. Characteristically chic.
Whilst we are by no means suggesting that you break up with your trusty maternity activewear leggings altogether, adding a few pairs of maternity trousers to your pregnancy wardrobe will help you keep things fresh. Here at Glamour, we are all about shopping wisely with sustainability front of mind, which is why we implore you to invest in items you’ll love enough to wear repeatedly over the next nine months.
Swayed by the power of maternity trousers? We’ve curated an edit of the very best, including everything from a pair of under the bump utility cargo trousers perfect for a weekend stroll, to striped linen-blend trousers ideal for that much-deserved babymoon. Ultimately, our edit proves maternity wear doesn’t have to be basic.
Why you can trust us
Website Director, Bianca London, Fashion Editor, Charlie Teather, Commerce Photo Editor, Neamh Randall, and Freelance Contributor, Rebecca Cope, all became first time (and in Bianca’s case, second-time too!) mums over the last few years, and – alongside, you know, prepping for one of humankind’s toughest physical feats and the subsequent life-altering reality of a tiny new human to care for 24/7 – rediscovering how to dress a body that was changing every single day posed a real challenge.
We didn’t want to lose our personal style identities – which, conveniently for those of you reading this for inspo, are all very different to one another’s – but we also wanted to celebrate and not just ‘disguise’ this incredible moment in our lives. And if we were finding this balance hard to strike, after working our whole adult lives in the fashion and magazine industry, we figured others must be too. So we made it something of a personal/professional mission to compile the ultimate guides. If for nothing more than for us to refer back to if/when we ever do this pregnancy thing again, because (spoiler alert) baby brain is no joke, people…
How we tested the best maternity trousers
Our editors tried a plethora of maternity trousers throughout every trimester of their pregnancies and marked them on style, comfort and longevity. Whilst we quickly grew out of some of the more purse-friendly offerings, we did find plenty that lasted right until our due dates and beyond (because every new mum knows your body can take months to readjust to its pre-pregnancy shape).
Trousers designed for mums-to-be tend to fall into two styles – they’re either designed with a thick band, usually made from a jersey fabric that covers (and stretches over) your stomach, or they’re cut to sit below the bump with an elasticated waistband. Comfort preferences aside, we found that maternity pants with a band looked best teamed with a loose-fitting shirt or jumper to skim over it, while those that sit below the bump looked great with a (stretchy) bodysuit or fitted top.
PSA: Some of the styles you’ll find below aren’t strictly maternity, either. We made a conscious effort to invest in regular/mainline collection pieces that worked with our bumps – i.e. items with a lot of stretch – that we could continue wearing after the baby came, in a bid to be less wasteful.
