Here at Haute Mama we like to stay one step ahead of all that is happening in the world of maternity style and fashion. We scour the earth (especially the Stateside part of it) for the loveliest looks, cutest of creations, and most delightful designs for Moms and babies. So you can probably imagine our reaction when we happened upon this truly unusual maternity dress.

Created by Marisol Rodriguez, a Brooklyn-based industrial designer, the dress draws inspiration from origami and is designed to grow along with your baby bump. Rodriquez uses a Japanese paper cutting effect to expand organic cotton fabric, revealing a hidden layer that covers your modesty while highlighting blooming bellies. Handmade by unemployed older women in the designer’s native Columbia, the dresses ($35) are only available through their local factory at this time.

An impassioned debate has been raging about the expandable maternity dress all week at Haute Mama Towers. Fiona, the original Haute Mama and creative genius behind the boutique, can’t stop laughing at the thing, while I’m secretly enamoured with it. No doubt division is good for our camp, and our little disagreement is part of why we make such a winning team but for the sake of a harmonious life we’ve got to ask: What do you think? Is Fiona failing to see something wonderful in this design, or has Heidi (that’s me) finally lost her marbles for falling in love with a dress which is basically crotch-less knickers mixed with maternity wear? Would you wear this dress? Heck, we might even go crazy and send you one if you think it’s the answer to an expectant Mom’s dreams!

I was at a friend’s 40th birthday when Fiona emailed me a picture of this little number. Best of all (or worst of all, actually, depending on your perspective) earlier at the party a friend had come rushing up to me when I arrived and said ‘You’re with child?!’ and I cracked up laughing (because I’m not, just clearly in need of much more running and far fewer buns) but she thought I was being funny – you know, was really pregnant but was teasing her by pretending not to be so that she would feel bad about her faux pas so our little awkward moment went on for AGES with her saying YOU ARE! and me laughing like a maniac and saying I’M NOT! until eventually she realised I wasn’t joking and was so embarrassed she nearly cried! And there was I thinking my groovy smock-dress-over-jeans look was kind of flattering – WRONG! So – all of that is to say that my figure and my sense of style could well leave a thing or three to be desired, and I might not be best judge of whether this dress is a must-have for Moms, or something to be avoided at all costs. Maybe I just like it because it would, er, hide a multitude of sins!

So please, settle this once and for all and give us your verdict… is it haute? Or not?

 

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