The best maternity workwear solutions to try

Isabel Spearman is a brand and image consultant who previously worked as special adviser to Samantha Cameron at Downing Street. Each week , she offers a helping hand dissecting workwear dress codes and offering a modern take on power dressing.

To ask Isabel Spearman your workwear questions, email [email protected] or follow her on instagram @isabelspearman

In this week's column, she tackles maternity dressing for the office...

Q. I’m four months pregnant, and am finding it suddenly hard to button my suits - though I’m loathe to wear an elasticated waistband. What would you suggest?

A.Over 50,000 women are pregnant while at work every year in the UK - which should mean that it’s easy to find good quality, flattering maternity wear. But having struggled myself a few years ago, and now listening to complaints from friends and clients, there still isn’t a huge amount on offer that’s appropriate for the office.

If you’re working in a corporate environment you want to feel you can get on with your job without having to wear something tight and stretchy that makes you look very obviously pregnant. I’m not suggesting that you want to hide the bump, but quite frankly I’d rather people talked to my face during a meeting rather than my tummy. Pregnancy can turn your usual style on its head and really affect your confidence at work, so take the time to rethink your wardrobe. I’d advise trying to find spacious non-maternity styles that that will fit you as long as possible before opting for full-on maternity wear and making friends with a local alterations place.

Long sleeved dress, ￡24.99, H&M; Naomi maternity dress, ￡195, Madderson London 

If you are blessed with good legs the easiest solution is to wear tunic dresses. Goat excel at these, and their Lola style is chic and simple, comes in lots of colours, and the fabric wears really well. Madderson London is also a good source for these shorter styles. If, like me, you are more pear shaped and don’t want to wear anything shorter than your knees then look for midi dresses with either higher, empire waistlines or elasticated waistbands. I found a really beautiful printed dress from Asos that suited me and had it copied by a local dressmaker in wool crepe in a few colours. She raised the waistband so that it fitted over a growing bump and the skirt length looked great with boots. These dresses have been lent lovingly to family and friends with similar figures when pregnant and proved to be their workwear saviours, as they were to me.

Maya check trousers, ￡71, Isabella Oliver; Oversized shirt, ￡59, & Other Stories; Lola dress, ￡220, Goat

Another good option is the combination of slim trousers with an oversized shirt which can look great either on its own or with a fitted blazer worn on top. It is worth investing some time and money into ordering various maternity trousers and trying them at home to get the best fit. I’d ditch skirts altogether, as they don’t flatter a growing waistline; the proportions simply don’t work. Remember that you don’t need loads of options, and don’t be afraid to recycle outfits much more regularly than you usually would. Finally, make sure you have a comfy pair of tracksuit bottoms waiting for you at home - though thankfully, no one at work will see you in those.