Dress like Kate Middleton! Maternity Looks You Can Wear More than Once,” (Vogue); “Duchess Kate’s royally chic bump style” (People); “Four of the hottest maternity looks Kate is expected to favour during her pregnancy!” (Good Morning America); “The Ten Best-Dressed Pregnant Women” (Vanity Fair).
“就穿凯特王妃(Kate Middleton)那样的衣服！孕妇装看起来可以穿不止一次，”（《Vogue》杂志）；“凯特王妃的时髦孕妇装突显王室风范”（《人物杂志》(People)）；“凯特王妃怀孕期间有望穿的四款最潮孕妇装！”（Good Morning America节目）；“10款最佳孕妇装”（《名利场》杂志(Vanity Fair)）。
There’s no question maternity fashion is making headlines on both sides of the Atlantic. With fashion darlings the Duchess of Cambridge, Fergie, Kim Kardashian and Margherita Missoni all becoming pregnant at about the same time, how to dress your bump has become the most popular style subject of the moment, with the mothers-to-be rising to the occasion.
毫无疑问，孕妇时装如今成了欧美各大媒体争相报道的焦点。随着凯特王妃、黑眼豆豆(Black Eyed Peas)女主唱菲姬(Fergie)、金•卡戴珊(Kim Kardashian)、玛格丽塔•米索尼(Margherita Missoni)等时尚宠儿几乎在同一时刻怀孕，如何着装成了当前最流行的时尚话题，以便让准妈妈应付自如这个问题。
On her first visibly pregnant outing, in February, the Duchess, whose baby is due in July, wore a Max Mara grey wrap dress. More recently she has taken to covering up in coats, like the pale green tweed Mulberry number worn for an engagement at Windsor Castle. Kardashian, meanwhile, has been seen in Valentino, Salvatore Ferragamo, Lanvin and Saint Laurent, while Fergie sported a black tux to an event in Brazil, followed by a clinging rhinestone-bedecked mini with a long train earlier this month. Missoni has been wearing, well, Missoni.
今年二月，怀孕（预产期为今年七月）后首次公开外出时，凯特王妃身穿一款灰色Max Mara裹裙。就在前一阵子，她喜欢上了全身上下穿外套，类似在温莎城堡(Windsor Castle)订婚时自己所穿的那款玛百莉(Mulberry)淡绿色花呢装；与此同时，卡戴珊身穿华伦天奴(Valentino)、菲拉格慕(Salvatore Ferragamo)、朗万(Lanvin)以及圣洛朗(Saint Laurent)等时装外出；而菲姬则身穿黑色礼服出席在巴西举行的某个活动，随后又在本月初身穿一件人造钻石点缀、后面拖着长长裙摆的紧身迷你裙出现在公共场合。米索尼则一直穿着自己旗下的品牌（预料之中）。
All are following the lead of former French First Lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who wore a Chanel haute couture white tweed dress and black jacket while pregnant, in adapting non-maternity wear to their new situation.
她们均在争相效仿法国前第一夫人布吕尼(Carla Bruni-Sarkozy)，在怀孕期间身穿常规时装。布吕尼怀孕期间，就穿着白色香奈儿(Chanel)高档花呢连衣裙与黑色短上衣。
Indeed, this has become such a trend that you’d think it might give the fashion world ideas. According to the maternity wear line Séraphine, in the UK there are about 800,000 births a year and, on average, women spend £130 on maternity clothes (a total of £108m), while in the US, with just under 4m births a year, spending is around $800m (an average spend of $200). And yet maternity dressing is the last great unexplored frontier in style. High fashion brands have gone into children’s clothes, wedding gowns, lingerie, sportswear, even linens. Many pregnant women clearly don’t want to surrender style any more but, when the topic is raised, catwalk stalwarts respond with an awkward silence.
勿庸置疑，这已成蔚然成风，因此诸位或许觉得会给时尚界某些启示。据孕装品牌Séraphine统计，每年英国约有80万婴儿出生，平均每位孕妇花在孕装上的费用为130英镑（全国总计1.08亿英镑）；而在美国，尽管每年的新生儿不到400万人，但总花费约为8亿美元（每个孕妇平均花费200美元）。然而，孕妇装却是时装界最后一座有待开发的“富矿”。高级时装品牌早已涉足童装、婚纱、女式贴身内衣、运动装、甚至家庭日用纺织品领域。很显然，许多孕妇不愿轻易放弃时装，但一旦提及孕妇装的话题，时尚拥趸们却以尴尬的沉默来回应。
Diane von Furstenberg (whose wrap dress many would argue is perfect for maternity), Jason Wu and Temperley London all politely declined to take part in this piece, for example. “It is not a story that we feel is the right fit for us. We don’t do any maternity wear, and our relationship with the Duchess of Cambridge is an important one we never comment on,” said Temperley London.
比方说，黛安•冯•芙丝汀宝（Diane von Furstenberg，许多人觉得其裹裙当孕装穿再合适不过了）、吴季刚(Jason Wu)、Temperley London等品牌均委婉地拒绝踏足这个领域。“我们觉得这个领域不太适合我们，我们不开发任何孕妇装，我们与凯特王妃的关系十分重要，对此从不作任何评论，”Temperley London说。
Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York, believes pregnancy has an image problem. It lacks “the glamour and sleekness of the ideal female figure. Pregnancy involves a profound change in the female silhouette, and a change which superficially resembles obesity. That is something that is very difficult for designers.”
纽约时装技术学院(the Fashion Institute of Technology)博物馆馆长瓦莱丽•斯蒂尔(Valerie Steele)认为怀孕后会涉及形象问题，因为它没有了昔日“女性完美身材的魅力及柔滑。怀孕后，女性形体必然发生巨大变化，外表感觉犹如患了肥胖症。所以设计师感觉左支右绌。”
Steele recalls how during her own pregnancy, while searching for something stylish, she was mulling over Issey Miyake’s Plantation line, in particular a loose, cotton dress that was breezy and classic 1980s, when “someone in the store looked at me and asked, ‘Is it twins?’” – the implication being Steele looked fat. “I ran out of the store crying,” she says. Still, she adds, “It seems like a missed opportunity” for designers.
斯蒂尔回忆自己当初怀孕、四处找寻时装时，曾对三宅一生(Issey Miyake)的Plantation系列服装看个没完，尤其是具有上世纪80年代风格的那件经典款欢快宽松的棉布裙。当时“店内员工看着我说，‘您怀的是双胞胎吗？’”——言下之意就是斯蒂尔看上去太胖了。“我当时是哭着冲出店门，”她说。尽管如此，她补充道，“感觉设计师错失了良机”。
Susan Lazar, a New York designer for 20 years, who now creates the popular Egg Baby line and does occasional maternity wear (simple jersey dresses and accessories) says she believes designers avoid maternity because it has such a short lifespan. “No woman wants to wear their maternity clothes after the baby arrives,” she says. “You want to burn them.”
苏珊•拉扎尔(Susan Lazar)是纽约时装设计师，从业已有20年，如今创立了自己的知名品牌——宝贝蛋(Egg Baby)，自己偶尔也会设计孕妇装（简约型针织连衣裙及相应配饰）。她说自己觉得设计师不愿设计孕妇装的原因是它实际穿的时间太短。“生完孩子后，就没有女人再想穿孕妇装，”她说。“就想把它付之一炬。”
There’s also the practical issue of patterns. “Maternity patterns are different from regular clothes because the belly picks up the front and, of course, you need larger waistbands,” Lazar says. She points out that launching a maternity line would require real investment, which might not be worth it as long T-shirts, leggings and layering remain popular as pregnancy wear. In fact, she says, many women can almost get away with buying entirely non-maternity basics until the last trimester. “It’s not really necessary to buy a maternity wardrobe, so designers don’t bother making one,” she says.
此外还有式样的实际问题。“孕妇装式样与平常衣服不一样，原因是怀孕后肚子会变大变突，必然要系更长的腰带，”拉扎尔说。她指出推出孕妇装需要很大投入，当长款T恤、裹腿、叠层装依然也能象孕装一样受人欢迎时，投资孕妇装就很不划算。她说，事实上，许多女性几乎一直穿着常规服装，直至最后三个月才换上孕装。“实在没必要去大量添置孕妇装，所以设计师不愿为此劳神费心，”她说。
Los Angeles stylist Nicole Chavez worked with then-pregnant Kristen Bell for this year’s Golden Globes and put the actress in a loose-fitting (non-maternity) Jenny Packham dress for the event. As a rule, she emphasises non-maternity wear for her clients, including Jessica Simpson, whom Chavez has dressed throughout both her pregnancies partly in Dolce & Gabbana (it has a lot of stretch in the fabric, she notes).
洛杉矶时装设计师妮可•查韦斯(Nicole Chavez)与当时身怀六甲的影星克里斯腾•贝尔(Kristen Bell)合作，为她设计了参加今年金球奖(Golden Globes)的礼服，让对方穿宽松款珍妮•帕克汉(Jenny Packham)时装（并非孕妇装）参加了颁奖典礼。她通常会强调自己的客户必须穿非孕妇装，其中就包括珍妮•帕克汉本人自己。在珍妮本人两次怀孕期间，查韦斯还时不时让她穿杜嘉班纳(Dolce & Gabbana)时装（她指出该品牌的面料伸缩性非常好）。
“She is a curvy girl and quite petite, so it was important to show her bump,” says Chavez. Issa is also a favourite non-maternity line for maternity wear, because the signature V-neck is flattering on an ample bust and the pleating at the waist flattering to a baby bump.
“珍妮•帕克汉曲线迷人、身材娇小，所以显出其隆起的腹部非常关键，”查韦斯说。把常规裙装当孕装穿，埃萨(Issa)也是理想的选择，因为标志性的V字领让本已丰满的胸部显得更为傲人，裙服在腰部打褶，让身怀六甲者的腹部显得更加楚楚动人。
Still, given the marketing boost the current crop of pregnant style-setters can bring, it would be good to see a brand respond. It could, after all, give birth to a whole new creative niche.
尽管如此，鉴于当前这一大波身怀六甲的引领时尚者所引发的市场营销效应，时尚品牌对此有所回应自然再好不过。毕竟，它能催生时装界一个全新的细分创意行业。