My Tips on How To Dress For Your Maternity Photo Session

There are a bunch of options on what you could wear for your maternity photos, but I want you to look amazing. What you wear during your normal day to day life isn’t necessarily what will look best for your photos. Keep reading for my top tips on how to look your best for your maternity session.

Dress For The Season

First on the list is making sure what you decide to wear works with the weather during your maternity photos. If it’s cold outside you will probably want to wear a dress that has longer sleeves or maybe a dress that works with a cardigan over it. Cardigans are so versatile and they look just so cute! If it’s hot outside, choose a fabric that is more breathable and has a lot more airflow.

Choose A Flattering Silhouette For Your Maternity Photos

After dressing for the season, this is the second most important tip. You want to wear a dress that will give you the most flattering silhouette for your maternity photos. The following are a few things to look for:

• A dress or top that is tighter up top above the belly
• A dress or skirt that flares towards the bottom starting just above the belly. Enough that there can be a lot of movement and can be swished around during your session. A skirt that flows creates a lot of movement that is catching to the eye and looks beautiful.
• Length of your dress or skirt should be long. Long enough to reach the floor. A long flowy dress looks romantic and beautiful.

Choosing The Color You Should Wear

You want to show off your bump! Colors like black or a really dark navy usually tend to hide your bump and makes it hard to see. Bright neon colors are also not usually recommended. It’s usually safe to stick with light to medium colors.

What Fabric Should You Wear For Maternity Photos?

This isn’t something that is usually thought about when choosing a dress or any clothing for a maternity session. Fabric does really make a huge difference in your maternity photos.

There are some cottons that don’t photograph well, don’t pick anything that is too stiff. On the other end of the spectrum, please don’t wear any stretchy fabric. Stretchy fabrics are really common, especially for maternity clothing, so you would naturally think it would be a safe choice for your maternity photos. However, this type of fabric tends to show every little bump. Is your undershirt or bra scrunched up? You’ll see it.

The follow is what I would recommend! Texture adds so much to your maternity photos! Not forgetting my absolute favorite, lace!

Being Careful With Patterns

Safe bets are usually solid colors and texture. However, patterns can be super awesome too! You will want a pattern that isn’t too tiny (which can make your dress look too “busy”), but also not too big (becoming too distracting from the main focus, you!). Another thing to consider is the color of not only the base of the dress but also the color of the patterns and how it flows (think like, hot pink dress with black pattern). So you’ll want to choose a pattern that is just right. Medium sized, not distracting, and maybe even something with a color that your significant other or the kiddos can wear!

Avoid Matching Your Husband or Family

With that, you definitely want to pick complementary colors without matching too much. Again, we want the main focus to be on you and your growing belly! If you are wearing a solid color dress, you definitely don’t want another person in your family to wear the same color. Coordinating is perfect…matching…not so much. If you pick a dress that does have a print, you can absolutely pick a color from your print for another family member to wear, but be careful, it can be really easy to match too much and for the image to blur and there be no definition on who is who.

What To Wear Under Your Dress For Maternity Photos

This will all depend on what type and color of dress you ultimately choose. You may decide to wear some sort of shape wear. Nude underwear may also be a great pick. If your dress shows some shoulder, you definitely don’t want everyone to see your bra straps, so maybe wearing pasties would be a good idea.

Bring An Extra Outfit

Yep! Bring an extra outfit or the one you couldn’t decide between. Adding layers can easily change up a look as well bringing more variety into your maternity photos.

I’m hopeful that helped a little on what to decide for your maternity photographs.

Looking For A Maternity Photographer?

If you’re looking for a maternity photographer, I am available for sessions anywhere in Kansas City and towns 3 hours beyond. Have a location in mind? Please contact me below and we can work together to create a beautiful maternity session just for you that show off your bump.