Dear Muslimahs. We get so much encouragement to have children, yet hardly anyone is selling clothing for us to wear once we’re pregnant. I wish I could give you good news and show you all the Islamic links where you can shop, but I can’t. I can only show you three Islamic links (for ready-made clothing) and point you to other shops to try to fill the void.
I am absolutely astounded at the void in Muslim maternity clothing online. I just can’t get over it. What are we supposed to wear when we’re pregnant if we don’t wear abaya?
What DID I wear when I was pregnant? Fortunately, I had just been in Pakistan weeks before getting pregnant, so I could have had a bunch of maternity shalwar kameez and trouser suits made. Unfortunately, I had a bunch of normal size clothing made because I didn’t want to count my chickens before they hatched, and there was no one to bring me a suitcase of clothing from Pakistan. So during my entire pregnancy, I had one ill-fitting, hand-me-down maternity shalwar kameez from my mother-in-law. I couldn’t wear it outside the house. I ended up wearing a standard-cut, but larger, abaya to all the Muslim events over some maternity work clothes. (I don’t normally wear abaya. I wear long skirts, loose pants, and long shirts.)
I needed modest, professional maternity clothing for an internship I had at the time. Needless to say, I could only wear pants to work. If you know about this site, it’s easy to find a skirt without slits, but if you’re tall, it’s more difficult, and if you’re tall and pregnant, then it’s impossible.
I had to buy all my work clothes from mainstream stores that specialize in tall sizes, and, even then, their maternity selection was very slim. I had very, very limited choices in work clothes. The most I could get was modesty of coverage (even that was difficult), and I ended up wearing more form-fitting clothing than I normally do.
For casual clothing, I only had jeans from Gap and long-sleeved knit tops. Again, not what I normally wear as far as fit goes. I ended up wearing my work clothes a lot to run errands and such just so I could have more variety. Two pairs of jeans and three pairs of work trousers all get old very quickly. Every day I felt like I had just worn whatever it was I put on! I know that’s normal for pregnant Muslimahs (probably all pregnant women on a budget) though because none of us can find clothes, and we don’t want to buy a whole new wardrobe for six months.
