The mysterious case of the missing maternity clothes

Life can just be so perplexing at times.

I’m expecting to become an auntie in the summer. So as a first time auntie to be who wants to support the first time mother to be I offered to by her some maternity clothes.

I’ve always liked the look of those maternity capsule wardrobe and did offer one of these initially. However after a bit of discussion the high street was deemed perfectly acceptable (especially if the shop was linked with Kidstart). Buying online is easy but being unfamiliar with maternity wear I thought I’d best go and check out the items in the flesh so to speak.

So at lunchtime I headed off. My destination was M&S but as my route passed Bhs I decided to pop in their and have a look at the Dorothy Perkins section which has just moved into the front of the store.

As I teenager I perpetually would find a garment I totally adored in Dorothy Perkins only to discover it was actually from the maternity range. Consequently I had high hopes. Well they were dashed when I couldn’t actually find any maternity wear. Then again the whole section was a bit of a mess. Wallis has recently taken up residence in Bhs too and the section seemed to be mixed up. Another issue was a range of clothes with a W and threaded needle on the label. I began to wonder if this was some kind of clever reference to something but then realised that it was actually a Bhs range. I stumbled around for a while and then off to M&S.

Stumble being the correct word. Had I thought it through I might have chosen a day that wasn’t the start of half term to venture into the shops. So trying not to tread on small people and avoiding being mown down by buggies and teenagers on skateboards I headed to reliable old M&S.

Alas I experienced the same problem. I just couldn’t find any maternity wear. I had lots of false hits. Current fashions for tunic tops and jumpers dresses fit right in with my concept of maternity wear. Likewise there seem to be a lot of skirts and trousers with elastic at the waist. However not a single one of these was labelled maternity.

So is maternity wear just not labelled anymore? Is it only available in stores at certain times of year? Do all expectant mothers just buy online?

I suppose I’ll have to either buy unseen or go to Mothercare.