I was not excited to wear maternity clothes. I really liked all my regular clothes, and wanted to wear them forever. I didn’t want to feel like they weren’t mine anymore, and wouldn’t fit my pregnancy body. I was getting pretty sour, as my pregnant body changes and my own clothes stopped fitting.

I got on Instagram and started looking at what I thought were the best maternity clothing brands out there. I didn’t want to look doofy was a pregnant person: I wanted to look great, like all the models! I even started a Pinterest board to see the best maternity clothes brands that would make me feel great.

As I aspired for trendy maternity clothes, I learned about the hot brands, and more. Here’s what I learned about brands making cute maternity clothes that I was happy to wear.

Nike Maternity

I spent the majority of my pregnancy wearing activewear (I was pretty active, according to all the ways I worked out while pregnant) and maternity-sized athleisure clothes. I figured if I could find amazing maternity athletic clothes, I’d wear them literally all the time.

All in all, wearing Nike maternity apparel is a great conversation-starter: “Wow, I didn’t know Nike makes maternity clothes for pregnant women!” Here are the best maternity items from Nike, and they not only look really cute on, but they’re affordable, well-made and totally versatile:

To see my full experience trying the Nike maternity collection, head to my Nike maternity review!

As a disclaimer, this list is not sponsored; however, Nike sent me Nike’s maternity shorts, tank and jacket (now discontinued) as gifts, to try out and review.

Quince Maternity Line

Who doesn’t love Quince? It’s one of the most rapidly-growing brands for sustainable fashion and I’ve tried a variety of the products, from the cashmere to the sleek dresses for summer.

What’s the best about Quince’s maternity line is that it is super cute and far from boring. It’s clothes that I’m excited to wear in my next pregnancy, from the 100% Organic Cotton Maternity Tiered Maxi Dress that I also have in the regular style, to the 100% Washable Silk Maternity Dress that’ll turn heads for being best in maternity trends.

Want to see how the best-sellers fit me? I tell all about it in my Quince maternity collection review.

Blanqi

Blanqi is maternity clothes that are far from ugly or lame. My favorite maternity leggings quickly became the solid black ones from Blanqi. Wearing them gave me a way to show off my baby bump, which was one thing I loved about being pregnant! These leggings are a maternity staple for so many women, and as a plus, the brand often has great sales.

One more great thing about Blanqi is that in addition to maternity clothes, they make postpartum clothes, which are slightly different in that they don’t make room for a gigantic baby bump, but rather, they make room for nursing modesty with an extra-high waist and have firmness in your recovering areas — key for postpartum survival tips.

Amazon Maternity Shop

There is nothing wrong with maternity clothes from Amazon, and one of my favorite yoga-appropriate maternity shirts was a bright blue maternity shirt from some nondescript maternity brand on Amazon.

The benefit of maternity clothes from Amazon is that you can see hundreds, if not thousands, of reviews, as well as pregnant moms’ honest thoughts (and real life photos!) about the clothes.

Amazon is also a GREAT place to shop for basic maternity dresses. I picked up several maternity-style LBDs (little black dresses) that I was able to wear to work events, professional events and even weddings, with some accessorizing.

Kindred Bravely

Kindred Bravely is a brand I discovered when researching nursing and pregnancy bras. I thought the brand only made bras and nursing tanks until I discovered the KB maternity line, which includes tops, dresses, jumpsuits, bottoms, swimwear and of course, loungewear and pajamas for pregnancy.

My suggestion is keeping Kindred Braveley as your go-to for cute maternity pajamas and the comfiest things to wear at home during pregnancy. For the sleepwear alone, they make pajama sets, nightgowns and robes, as well as “Labor & Delivery Gowns.”

The nice-looking L&D gowns are for women who want to avoid itchy or worn-down hospital gowns and even have the chance to pose for post-birth photos with the baby at the hospital. Want to see all my photos? Head to my Kindred Bravely maternity clothing review.

I also like that KB has their website easily browsable by “stage,” from “hiding your bump,” to “What you want in your hospital bag,” to “breastfeeding and nursing” and “postpartum.” That’s really helpful for shopping. I tried out the nursing shirts and in the photo below, you can see how the access looks.

Shop Kindred Bravely and get 15% off with my exclusive code HALFHALFHOME15.

Motherhood Maternity

I got a gift card to Motherhood Maternity and had no idea what to get. I settled on the perfect pair of maternity jeans, bike shorts and a long-sleeve top. The bike shorts became my #1 pregnancy must-have, and I wore them biking EVERY time I worked out!

The company makes “functional favorites,” so picture nothing too showy, nothing too flashy and nothing too radical. I got basics that lasted my entire pregnancy and grew with me from second trimester into third.

Old Navy Maternity

Everyone’s middle school favorite brand for basics has an impressive maternity “shop” online and in-store. When I talked about maternity clothes with my friends, everyone seemed to be “pleasantly surprised” that Old Navy made maternity clothes you’d “actually” want to wear.

The online store has a smart browsing function called “shop by trimester” that groups together products based on how you’d want to hide (first trimester) or show (second and third) your baby bump!

Helpful Tip

Check out the low-rise maternity underwear, too.

GAP Maternity

GAP Maternity clothes definitely are not lame. While GAP, as I see it, has fallen slightly in popularity compared to other retailers for our generation, GAP Maternity is making shopping easy for a pregnant body.

Beyond the basic jeans and basic tees (a lot of which I lived in, toward the end of my second trimester and for all of my third trimester), there are cute dresses that I want to wear day after day, and even pregnancy pajamas and nursing bras. Frankly, I started wearing nursing bras toward the middle of my second trimester, and didn’t stop, because of how stretchy and expandable most of them were.

The other good thing about the GAP is that the clothes focus on timelessness, so for someone like me, who plans to have another (or two) pregnancy, I can recycle the same maternitywear.

H&M Maternity

H&M, one of my favorite brands as a 20-something and 30-something, makes a killer maternity shop online. They use real pregnant models and have an assortment of on-trend maternity styles like bike shorts, jersey dresses, professional attire, tanks and leggings.

Overall, H&M is cheap for budget maternitywear. That’s probably the biggest asset the company has, much like Old Navy.

Hatch Collection

Hatch is one of the maternity apparel brands I learned about via Instagram when I first got pregnant, and I wanted to look as cute as all the models in the photos did.

Everything from Hatch is gorgeous, and is almost as good as the clothes I’d wear normally when I was not pregnant. I think Hatch is one of the best friends for the cutest maternity clothes that are really exciting, because they make elevated tops, bottoms and dresses chic enough to wear out to happy hour or a party, and make a statement as a pregnant woman.

One thing to note is that Hatch is not cheap; the vibe reminds me more of JCrew or Madewell, and the prices reflect a mature audience.

Jbrand

Jbrand is a denim company, and I found out about their jeans via my friend Elana, who lent me my first pair of Jbrand maternity jeans that I found were PERFECT to wear to work. Jbrand works with a big assortment of sizes, which made it great for me, as I needed a small one.

Jbrand is actually best to buy through other retailers like A Pea in the Pod, or Bloomingdales. Currently, they’re making great styles like cigarette ankle jeans, bootcut, cropped and wide-leg types of maternity pants that make pregnancy outfits cute again.

My final tip

The brands above helped me out a lot during pregnancy, and made me feel beautiful when my baby kept growing. What helped me in terms of staying positive was creating a Pinterest board and a saved Instagram post list of pregnant models wearing maternity outfits that looked amazing, so I could remember that maternity clothes didn’t have to be lame.

Of course, if you’re looking for ways to keep wearing what’s in your regular wardrobe for as long as possible, head to my list of how to avoid buying maternity clothes for some fresh ideas.