Vintage Maternity Series - The 1950s

1950s Vintage Maternity fashion style

Now for the era that defines “vintage maternity style” in the minds of many: the 1950s! Unlike during the 1930s and 1940s, fabric conservation and rationing was no longer a big design consideration and, like the other styles of the 1950s, maternity wear became more voluminous and feminine.

This post will ride the line of the late 1940s to early 1950s a bit because the maternity fashions were *very* similar. (I think we sometimes forget that fashion doesn't abruptly change just because a new decade begins on the calendar!)

Below I've paired a 1950s blouse with my 1940s repro trousers!

In the late 40s, maternity fashion followed regular fashion in its love for large shoulder pads, longer skirts, and fabric volume. This look stayed for a few years as, it seems, maternity fashion moved a bit slower.


1950s Vintage Maternity fashion style

However, elastics and stretch fabrics are still not in common use at this point. They started appearing a bit toward the later part of the decade, but most patterns and garments from the 50s I’ve seen still used other closures and techniques of making pregnancy garments adjustable and comfortable.


1950s Vintage Maternity fashion style

1950s Vintage Maternity fashion style

One of the garments I made with this silhouette was a muslin of scrap fabrics where I wanted to try out a pattern (The "Anne Adams" pictured above) for fit. As you can see, the top is pretty swingy and voluminous, a shape mimicked in coats and cardigans of the time, too. The Peter Pan collar, bow, and sleeve details add the feminine touches so popular in the late 40s-1950s. The pencil skirt included in the pattern, also in tune with the popular trends of the time, uses a series of buttons at the waist to account for a woman’s expanding waistline (much like the vintage garment below). 


1950s Vintage Maternity fashion style
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These features at the top of the skirts were never meant to be seen, so sometimes they don’t lay perfectly flat or aren’t particularly aesthetically pleasing; they’re functional. When pregnant women of the time wore skirts, it was assumed that they would wear a blousey shirt on top, not tuck things in, so waistbands weren’t meant to be seen.


1950s Vintage Maternity fashion style

This is also important to keep in mind when you run across 1950s maternity skirts like the ones above with cut-out half-circles at the waist with ties or bands of fabric. They’re a bit weird to the modern eye! However, a woman would have worn a maternity slip under the skirt and blouse, and since skirts didn’t accompany tucked-in shirts for pregnant women, this cut-out would never have been seen (barring gusts of wind and the like!). It was yet another way that designers and makers accommodated a pregnant figure without stretch fabrics and elastic.


1950s Vintage Maternity fashion style

(Side note: I'm also intrigued by this Advance pattern and its wrap skirt. It looks like it could also be worn pre- or post-maternity as a stylish pencil skirt... I'll investigate/mock up further and share the results with you guys!)


1950s Vintage Maternity fashion style
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The tent-shaped, voluminous top and slim pencil skirt or cigarette pants seem to be the most trendy maternity silhouette of the 1950s. Pretty collars and sleeve details were popular, and I’ve even seen cocktail maternity sets for fancier occasions. In this decade, it still wasn’t “proper” to accentuate a pregnant figure, but pregnant women were making their way into the public sphere in the West in a new way. During this decade, Lucille Ball was the first pregnant woman to appear on television, and she’s fantastic inspiration for the cute and comfortable maternity fashions of the time. (Check out my vintage maternity Pinterest board for more inspiration!)

What other interesting features have you found on 1950s maternity garments or patterns? The tent-ish pregnancy silhouette seems to divide vintage wearers into distinct “love” or “hate” crowds; where do you fall?

6 comments

  1. The episode where Lucy tells Desi shes expecting is the cutest thing to ever go on TV I think. Ive been really loving this series! I had never explored vintage maternity, although Ive certainly seen the 50s skirt with cutouts pattern before. I find it funny the drawing on the front doesnt show a pregnant woman, though!

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    1. Yes, it WAS such a cute episode! And I love what Lucy did for bringing pregnancy into the public sphere.

      Although pregnancy was still too scandalous for pattern illustrations at this point, haha! You're so right!

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  2. I enjoy seeing your post on Instagram! I enjoyed these blog post! I love the vintage maternity shirts and skirts! It seems like it would be much more comfortable than the skin tight shirts women wear now!

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    1. Stretchy fabrics of today can definitely be comfortable, too (I've got some of those I wear around the house!), but I like not having to think about undergarments and my "popped" belly button in these looser vintage styles!

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  3. I love seeing all the ways they made patterns work around bellies. Although I think if I were to go towards a vintage style I would think I would just go with modern stretch fabrics for a pencil skirt. But I dunno, maybe this is more comfortable, at least to certain people. What is you opinion? Over or under the belly?

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    1. I think it would depend on the weather for me. I found the cut-out skirt that I have to be draftier because of being worn with a roomy top. In summer this is nice, but in winter that would be chilly! (Of course, wearing a maternity slip is an option, too.) It also seems to me that these cut-out skirts have to fit *just* right to be comfortable, particularly the hip area under the belly.

      I think my personal favorites have been the non-stretch pencil skirts with the stretch panel that goes up and over my belly!

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