What to Wear: Maternity

I get a lot of questions about what to wear for sessions so I thought it would be a good idea to start a series of Blog posts on What to Wear. I always mention some of these things when clients book a session, but thought it would be good reading material for those of you thinking about booking a session. It will help if you plan to purchase clothing for the session prior to booking it…which I have had a lot of people do. So, I’ll be working my way through different types of sessions over the coming days and weeks. I thought that Maternity is a great place to start since that is the beginning of life.

What to Wear for a Maternity Session:

I usually recommend some clothing basics for a Maternity session: yoga pants, button up shirts, tank tops, camisoles, lingerie, and jeans. Clothing that bares the belly work well, such as shrugs that we can tie above the belly. A black button up shirt is a great choice and always a go-to for my maternity sessions. The great thing about a button up shirt is you can leave the bottom unbuttoned to expose the belly. Short cropped jackets can be a great option also. In addition, if you have a maternity outfit you really love, have that prepared too. It might be great for your portraits. It is always best to bring too many options than not enough. If you are bringing your spouse, I highly recommend that he come in jeans and bring along a black long sleeved shirt. If he has some other long sleeved shirts that would work, bring them along as well. I very well may use them as well!

Let’s talk about the jeans for a minute. For the mother-to-be, jeans with panels are not recommended, but jeans that sit below the belly, and even jeans from before your pregnancy will work even if they can’t be zipped up. As long as they can fit up over the hips, they’ll work. I could tell some interesting stories about clients squeezing into their pre-maternity jeans! LOL!

So that you won’t regret it later when you view your images, please make sure all clothing is either ironed or steamed. I can do wonders in retouching, but extensive wrinkle removal isn’t covered.

One awesome thing that most people don’t realize when checking out my maternity portfolio is that I create some fantastic images using simple cloth wraps that I have on hand. I have many different ones and feel like a clothing designer a lot of times when I am using them. The great thing about this is that you can look great in your maternity images without spending a great deal of money for clothing!!! Plus, they are extremely tasteful and elegant!

One last thing to remember….the morning of the session, it is best that you not put your watches on. I usually ask that you take them off so that they aren’t distracting in images of just hands and belly. This way you don’t have marks on your wrists.