I had something already written for today, but I woke up to discover that Kate Spade is holding a rather amazing Surprise Sale, offering 75% off a very nice collection of items for today only. This is particularly relevant to all of us, as a nice selection of the Kate Spade diaper bags are included in the sale. The Jubilee Stripe Stevie Baby Bag is among the sale items, reduced from its usual USD $398 to only USD $179. In addition to diaper bags, jewelry, clothing, shoes, and accessories are also included. This is a great sale, head over there and buy up before supplies are gone.

All sales are final, but if you are able to buy a Kate Spade diaper bag for $179, you should be immune to buyer’s remorse anyway.

And don’t forget, the Isabella Oliver Spree sale continues, with a 39% discount on all maternitywear and nursingwear today using promotional code “SPREE39″.

4 DAYS ONLY – SAVE 35% to 47% OFF on all Maternity Clothing at the Isabella Oliver Spree Sale. (Offer valid From May 14 to May 17, 2012 only) Be sure to check daily for the new promo code & qualifying details!

It’s official. Jessica Simpson will be launching her own maternity line. Jessica claims she wants to take advantage quickly of all she has learned about maternity fashion and channel that into “breezy, everyday” clothing for the rest of us. Jessica Simpson Maternity will sell at Destination Maternity and at Macy’s and will, according to Jessica’s press release, have a “vintage ’70′s feel” and be “flattering to your baby bump.” If skintight animal prints and billowing muumuus are what you consider flattering maternity wear then ladies, you are in luck, because Jessica’s new line will launch later this year, soon enough for the newly pregnant to purchase it. Prices will start at $36.

Perhaps it will be tasteful. Perhaps it will be nothing like the clothing she wore during her pregnancy. Perhaps I will love it and suggest you all run out and buy it immediately. Or, perhaps not. Regardless, I can’t wait.

I blogged a couple of weeks ago about the casual, fun Summer 2012 maternity collection released by Canadian designer Jules & Jim and have since received my new Jules & Jim Women’s Long Comfortable Tube Dress. If there is a day at the pool or the beach in your near future, order this cotton-blend dress and have it ready to go in your beach bag. I admire pregnant women who flaunt it in their swimsuits, but I speak from years of cumulative experience when I tell you that no matter how confident you are, there are days during your pregnancy and afterward you will not feel bikini-ready. This easy-to-wear, easy-to-wash dress is for those days. I anticipate a full summer of those days this year, so I am already ordering this dress in the second color to ensure there is always one in my beach bag.

And don’t forget that Isabella Oliver’s Spree Sale continues today with 43% off the entire maternity and nursing line. The promotional code today is “SPREE43.”

4 DAYS ONLY – SAVE 35% to 47% OFF on all Maternity Clothing at the Isabella Oliver Spree Sale. (Offer valid From May 14 to May 17, 2012 only) Be sure to check daily for the new promo code & qualifying details!

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Isabella Oliver’s Maternity Spree Sale is one of the best sales of the year and it begins today with 47% off all Isabella Oliver maternitywear and nursingwear. And yes, I mean all. The Spree Sale last throughout the week, but the discount drops each day, making it the perfect sale for impulsive shoppers like myself. If you’ve been eyeing it, buy it today before midnight with promotional code “SPREE47.” The discount drops to 43% tomorrow and 39% on Wednesday, with a new promotional code each day. I’ll be sure to update the promotional code here on the blog.

4 DAYS ONLY – SAVE 35% to 47% OFF on all Maternity Clothing at the Isabella Oliver Spree Sale. (Offer valid From May 14 to May 17, 2012 only) Be sure to check daily for the new promo code & qualifying details!

This weekend is Mother’s Day and I have been bombarded with promotional emails all week asking that I post about various “perfect gifts” for expecting moms or new moms or seasoned moms. I could do that, but I personally find those lists depressing, as they assume there is someone out there preparing to buy you a gift. There are wonderful partners and fathers who also happen to be abysmal gift-givers, if they even remember to buy a gift. But, being that motherhood is just about the most selfless thing a person can do, we all deserve a carefully chosen, thoughtful gift once a year. So, we often have to content ourselves with selecting and buying our own gifts–which, as you might imagine, I have absolutely no problem doing.

So, below is my special Mother’s Day themed list–a brief list of the online boutiques offering Mother’s Day promotions and thereby facilitating our ability to go out and buy ourselves whatever our hormonal, impulsive selves desire. I find a VIP discount is better than a vase of flowers any day.

1.  More of Me Maternity–The playful, independent maternity line is offering 25% off its Spring/Summer 2012 line through this Sunday with promotional code “MOM25″

2.  Prelegant.com–The new online maternity boutique is bringing hard-to-find European maternity lines to U.S. buyers and is offering PF readers an exclusive 25% Mother’s Day discount through Tuesday, May 15th with promotional code “FASHIONISTA25.”

3.  Bella Materna–PF’s favorite destination for nursing bras and nursing gowns is offering a special Mother’s Day discount of 20% off all purchases over USD $200 with promotional code “MOM2012.”

4. Milkstars--The LA-based line of super-comfortable nursing tops and pajamas is offering 25% off through Monday with promotional code “MOM2012.”

The shirtdress is everywhere this spring and I, for one, am thrilled about it. Michael Kors and Diane von Furstenberg probably didn’t consider this when designing their S/S12 collections, but the shirtdress is an ideal postpartum clothing piece. It is roomy, it provides the opportunity to create a waist even if yours has not yet returned, it has buttons for easy nursing access, and it shrinks with you as you start to lose your weight (I write that hopefully).

Maternity designers are latching on to the trend as well, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the most appealing maternity shirtdress out there right now is from Olian Maternity. I really like Olian Maternity. The line is very good quality and they manage to incorporate fashion trends while also keeping their price points reasonably low.  But I do think the line’s curious affinity for wild prints goes a bit overboard. Pregnant women just don’t want to wear those loud prints all the time. There comes a point in a woman’s pregnancy where subtlety is rightly preferred.

Olian Maternity’s Khaki Linen Shirtdress is a welcome, chic diversion from all of those wild printed dresses. Olian has rightly dispensed with the buttons that typically run up a shirtdress (buttons are never a pregnant woman’s fashion ally), but has managed to preserve the look of the shirtdress and has done so in tasteful, neutral linen. This dress works for the office just as well as it works for a summer day at the park and is priced at a very appealing USD $136.

By the way, there is a whopper of a sale being staged right now on Polarn o Pyret’s USA website. The Swedish designer, best known for its boldly striped children’s clothing collection, is discontinuing its “Mama” maternity and nursing collection and all of the pieces are 70% off beginning today. PF has been a longtime fan of this line for its simple, high-quality maternity basics and particularly for its cold-weather maternity gear. The Swedes know how to keep warm and POP’s Maternity Windfleece Jacket is the only fleece I’ve ever encountered that is specifically tailored for maternity. Sizes are very limited, but make sure you take a look and see if you can get lucky.

Well, the Met Gala was a serious letdown for PF. Not a single pregnant celebrity or model showed up–or at least an evidently pregnant one. Although, actress Diane Kruger could have been carrying triplets underneath this Prada concotion and we never would have known it.

Still, there were some beautiful dresses and much to my surprise, new mom January Jones’ yellow Versace gowns was one of my favorite. Her recent admission that she is busy eating her own placenta in custom smoothies prepared for her by her doula confirmed to me that she is rather odd, but the woman is gorgeous and she really looked stunning on Monday night.

On to more pressing and relevant concerns for all of us non-celeb, non-placenta-eating pregnant and postpartum women. I am pleased to announce that Slacks & Co., the UK-based maternity designer, has finally, finally opened its online boutique…and 1-2 day shipping to the US is a mere GBP 10. Slacks & Co. specializes in designing high-end trousers for pregnant women, with a focus on taking looks right off the runway and translating them into maternitywear. I simply love this line and there is nothing out there quite like it for pregnant women. I am wearing a pair of the line’s black London Cigarette Pant as I sit here writing this. Slacks & Co. has designed its maternity trousers to look nothing like maternitywear and at 3 months postpartum, I am particularly thankful for that. I wear a pair of these just about every day to work and comfort myself with the knowledge that I and only I know I am still in maternity clothing.

The primary and solitary complaint I have with Slacks & Co. is simply that they are so hard to find, with very few US retailers carrying the line and only a select few of the line’s vast array of trouser styles usually available. The new online boutique changes that, offering specialty pieces like the Dallas Faux Leather Tregging or the Buenos Aires Jodhpur. And yes, these trousers are specifically designed and tailored for the pregnant physique–none of the suspect tactic of adding an elastic belly band to regular fitting trousers and marketing them as maternity, one of Pea in the Pod’s most frustrating tactics.

So, happy shopping. Buying a pair of these trousers may truly revamp your maternity wardrobe…and give you the postpartum one you don’t even know you need yet.

If you love fashion, then tonight is prom night. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Annual Gala is being held tonight in New York City and if you’re “someone” in fashion or Hollywood, you are on the invite list for this event. PF, of course, looks most forward to seeing what the pregnant models and starlets are wearing and this year, there are so very many of them. Alessandra d’Ambrosio, Molly Sims, Lily Allen, Reese Witherspoon, Sienna Miller, Megan Fox, Drew Barrymore, and Anna Paquin to name a few (This event is so incredibly glamorous, I am really hoping co-chair Anna Wintour managed to keep Snooki out).

The red carpet arrivals are going to be livestreamed on Amazon tonight  beginning at 6:30pm and although that is smack dab in the middle of my numerous children’s bath time, I plan to be glued to the iPad.

In honor of all of the pregnant celebrities we’ll be gazing at tonight wearing decadent couture specifically tailored for their burgeoning physiques, I thought I’d clue everyone into a decidedly non-decadent Hollywood maternity favorite, the Old Navy Maternity Cowl-Neck Drawstring Dress. A very pregnant Alyson Hannigan was out shopping in this cotton maxi dress on Saturday and I just thought she looked adorable. And you may be as shocked as I was to see that it costs less than $30. Less than $30! You could wear it once and it would be worth the money. And a maxi dress is really every pregnant woman’s third trimester go-to outfit–not too fitted, gives you room to sweat, and completely camouflages your legs and rear. What more can you ask for?

If you too will be watching tonight, tweet your favorite maternity look to @pregnantfashion. I now have five baths to give at night, I may get distracted and I’d hate to miss one.

First of all, my sincere congratulations to Jessica Simpson, who finally had her baby this morning. The baby girl weighed nearly ten pounds, which could partially explain Jessica’s weight gain (that and the pop tarts slathered with butter). Now, Jess, it’s time for the hard part, i.e., losing all of that weight. It does, of course, help if someone is paying you $4 million to shed those postpartum pounds.

Hopefully, Simpson’s baby daddy and fiance, Eric Johnson, is showering her with new mommy gifts in the hospital and among those gifts should be a Bella Materna Women’s Anytime Nursing Gown . Anytime a parent-to-be asks me what gift to give his or her partner in the hospital, I suggest this nightgown. It’s just sexy enough to make a new mom feel appreciated, but not so sexy that it isn’t extraordinarily practical and useful. It is the absolute gold standard for nursing gowns and I was reminded of that yet again this morning when a close friend texted me to thank me for recommending it. His wife gave birth last night and he gave it to her this morning. It was a “home run,” he writes.

Because the Bella Materna nursing gown is reinforced with very strong elastic at the empire waist, there is no need to wear a nursing bra underneath it. This is not so with most other nursing gowns, which usually only have a thin piece of elastic at the bra line. And, the gown is made of Bella Materna’s trademark microfiber fabric. This incredible fabric can withstand an entire night’s worth of leaking breastmilk and still manage to dry by the time you wake up. This is not so with regular cotton nursing gowns.

As I told my friend this morning, I have expensive taste, but I know what I am talking about. The Bella Materna Women’s Anytime Nursing Gown is USD $92 and once you’ve worn it, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to prevent yourself from buying another. For all you expectant partners out there, it also makes a great Mother’s Day gift.

Attaching a Mad Men theme to any kind of fashion campaign virtually guarantees my and many other fashion lovers’ interest these days, as few can get enough of the show’s 60′s-era fashion and its stylist Janie Bryant. Even the show’s pregnant characters are beautifully outfitted as they spend those sacred nine months drinking and smoking to their heart’s content.

Canadian maternity boutique Hautemama has obviously figured this out and has created a “Mad Men Style” boutique from which pregnant women can purchase pieces ”inspired” by the AMC show. Everything in the boutique happens to be designed by Fragile Maternity, the Belgium-based luxury maternity designer, so it could just as easily be named the Fragile Maternity boutique.

But, we offer kudos to Hautemama for its marketing savvy and regardless of what it’s called, appreciate the opportunity to purchase hard-to-find pieces online from the to-die-for Fragile Maternity collection.

And while you are trying to replicate Betty Draper’s maternity fashion, make sure to look through Hautemama’s other offerings. Hautemama has just upgraded its website and is now stocking other hard-to-find European-based maternity lines like Slacks & Co. and 9Fashion.

Michaelstars.com is offering 25% off sitewide starting today with promotional code “FRIEND” and as you probably already know, the designer has a covetable line of high-end maternity basics, ranging from basic tanks to maxi dresses.  Among my long-time personal favorites? The Michael Stars Maternity Slub 1×1 Long Sleeve Tee and the Rib Boyfriend Tank, both of which come in an assortment of neutral colors and make great layering pieces.

The Spring 2012 line includes an array of classic Michael Stars “Maternitees” in a new palette of bright colors like lemon and orange peel, as well as some new pieces like the Stripe Relaxed V-Neck, available in lemon, coral, and green. The designer has also released a Maternity Double Vee Maxi Dress for spring in four basic, neutral colors. All pieces are made from Michael Stars’ trademark luxury cotton. The prices are on the high end for tees and tanks, but 25% off lessens the impact on your wallet, and layering pieces are perhaps your best investment during a pregnancy, as you will be wearing them every day and want them to last. And you don’t need me to tell you there is a vast difference in quality between the Michael Stars Rib Maternity Tank and the maternity tank you can buy for $8 at Old Navy.

The Friends & Family Sale lasts four days, through Monday.

Friends & Family Sale – 25% off Sitewide from MichaelStars.com! Use Promo Code: FRIEND