Saving This for Later

Breastfeeding-friendly wedding guest dresses, men's wedding bands and scented candles around the £20 mark. Not bridal themed, but it could have been!

Bonkers this week has been. Bonkers! It was wonderful to see so many of you last Thursday and I wanted to let anyone who had missed it know that I will speaking at an event this evening with vintage specialists Merchant and Found about all my secondhand secrets. Alongside me will be design world luminaries Kate Watson Smyth (her Substack is here for anyone interested) and Banjo Beale (winner of BBC’s Interior Design Masters) as well as a host of other experts. The important details are the address (Vinyl Factory in Soho) and time (5.30pm). The event is in support of the wonderful Vintage Supermarket of 6000 sq ft of treasures on sale for four days during Craft Week and I’ll be signing books and generally be available to catch up.

It’s all free and immediately after all of us interiors lot, Sarah Corbett Winder, founder of The Kipper Club will be doing an event on vintage fashion – so no matter what your style interest (for me: all areas!) there will be something for you.

Ok, now that’s all passed on, back to shopping. This week we’ve got a few niche questions, just as I like them.

1.    Breastfeeding-Friendly Wedding Guest Outfits

This lovely reader is nursing, but also has her brother’s wedding to scrub up for. Gah. I can so remember this feeling. Four weeks after my eldest was born, my mother-in-law got married. Aside from the wrench to get the family on a train to Norfolk with all the early baby kid, I remember feeling so completely at sea with how to dress. I was partially breastfeeding, partially pumping and leaking (or more accurately jetting) everywhere. This is just one of those requirements that you need SO MUCH for such a short window, then poof, you erase all memory and move on with your sartorial life.

How you approach it all depends on how you feel about the whole shebang and how you generally feel about your body. Technically a stretchy cut out dress with a section that can be pulled apart to let your tatas out could be breastfeeding-friendly, but personally I wasn’t wild about any kind of additional skin revelations at the time. The trad option is always going to be a wrap dress, but they can sometimes feel super frumpy. Below I’ve put together some options which should span all levels of feeding comfort and if they’re not quite right, I hope they at least give you something to think about!

1. Winslow Dress £348 by Reformation

This has wedding guest dress written all over it. It’s a wrap style, so should be easy to manoeuvre and it feels like the blousy sleeves would make you feel a little more covered and protected. Unlike a lot of Ref’s cuts, the neckline could work with a maternity bra. There are actually five colourways and the floral ones would offer good camouflage if there were a leak or splash here or there.

2. Shirred Dresses, Nobody’s Child from £27 (sale price)

I’ve chosen these dresses for anyone looking for an option under £100, but the style and shape is widely available at a higher (and lower – I just wanted to feature Nobody’s Child as they make an effort to change the fast fashion business mould) price points. I particularly like the Doên options and can corroborate that they open up far enough to get your boob out. The shirred fabric across the chest is the important bit and if you go for a sleeved option, you’ll have your shoulders covered too and not feel quite so nude.

3. Amina Midi Dress, £265 Rixo

This dress will be trickier with a bra, though I personally just ended up using normal bras (before you say easy with tiny tits, I got to a G cup) with these washable nude and black breast pads. I just found the whole unhooking business a nightmare. In this instance I actually wouldn’t mind seeing a nice bit of black or white lace over the keyhole at the front of the dress and I love the idea of simply un-ribboning the front! Rixo have a bump and feeding friendly filter here.

4. Shirt Dresses & Jumpsuits from £300 by Farm Rio

I understand the bold patterns here might be a touch de trop for some, but I think they have so much personality. If you do find the prints to be OTT, it’s worth just taking the shapes into account, specifically the shirt dress/ shirt jumpsuit situation. Any button down style works so well for feeding and if you haven’t considered a jumpsuit in this context, might I put it on your radar.

5. Silk Wrap Dress, £650 by Zimmermann

If you’re looking to invest in this space and love the classic wrap dress, this is a gorgeous option. It comes in lots of colours, but I’d probably plump for the navy as it would hide any marks and stains.