About Amy Tara Koch

As a career fashion gal (I am the trend reporter for NBC, contribute to Town & Country, American Way, The New York Times, The Huffington Post, The New York Observer and Daily Candy and have been a style expert for iVillage, Inc.; Vogue and Twitter Moms), I can tell you that pregnancy doth not bring out one’s inner glamour girl. Hormones flow, stomachs protrude and once clear complexions zig-zag with “non specific dermatitis”. Like you, I reached right for my fat pants—those baggy sweats in your bottom drawer reserved for sitting about the house on Sundays—as soon as twelve pounds of first trimester blubber wrapped itself around my midsection. One morning, I glanced at my dumpy reflection in the mirror as I left for work and saw an uncanny resemblance to my potato picking Russian ancestors. How could I let my professional credibility be eradicated by leisure wear? The "Baggy Belarus" look had to go.

Then my editorial instincts kicked in. The bump savvy celebs peering out at me from People were not miracles of nature. They had simply mastered the high art of mix and match fertility fashion; a combination of must have maternity with easy civilian silhouettes that embraced and enhanced their bump. I may lack Halle Berry’s gene code, but a decade of covering fashion shows gave me confidence that I, a scrappy 5’4” editrix, could eschew pregnancy’s frump factor and step up to the fashion plate. I knocked back some Tums and got to work.

Skinny jeans, skimpy tops and anything that made me look and feel like five pounds of bologna in a one pound bag were packed away; empire waist dresses, tunics and other bump friendly silhouettes were positioned front and center. Big baubles were my new best friends. And, eye catching accents—vintage jackets, exotic reptilian bags, capes and shawls, and hardware-laden oversized totes were my joie de vivre. I raided Grandma’s closet for Jackie-O scarves and quirky accents. Later, when my bump materialized, I purchased only core maternity items that could be “bumped up” for every occasion. I took the fashion phrase “God is in the Details” to task and had a blast “super accessorizing."

BUMP IT UP was born of my experience reworking a handful of basics into dozens of jaw dropping maternity ensembles. I had some high-powered fashion friends—Nicole Miller, Donna Karan, Milly, Diane Von Furstenberg and Isaac Mizrahi—craft original line drawings of pregnancy silhouettes that are at once fashionable and functional. In "ADVICE FROM THE A LIST," I stepped behind the scenes of the glossies and canvassed the real style mavens—designers, editors and socialites—on how they sailed through pregnancy with panache. And, for those who were served up hormonally induced lumps and bumps instead of the coveted pregnancy glow, celeb skin gurus weigh in on how you too can tap into that (faux) glow.

The key to preggo chic? Creativity. Effort. And the commitment to pushing the sartorial envelope even as you feel your breakfast rising in your throat.

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