What we can learn from Kim Kardashian's maternity style

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As soon as Kim Kardashian announced her pregnancy, it wasn't her new baby that I was looking forward to seeing. Well I am, but that's yonks away. Right now, I'm much more interested in Kimmy's maternity wardrobe.

After a three years of being dictated to by Kanye steering her into a well-curated hybrid of vamp meets demure, where she sometimes wears high necks and long hemlines but at other times wears mesh over those famous curves, it was always going to be interesting to see her debut a new bump. And she didn't disappoint.

Kim's first appearance as a pregnant woman was in a nude latex dress. If you're not familiar with latex, it's similar to the stuff they use to make balloons. BALLOONS. On a three-month pregnant body. I don't know about you, but even at four weeks pregnant I felt like I had a bloated balloon in my uterus and couldn't wear anything tighter than a cotton t-shirt for fear I might suffocate. Babies in the belly need room, I found, not to be strapped down with ultra-tight rubber.

But that would be so unKimmy, wouldn't it? We don't want to see her walking around dressed like a normal pregnant woman, because then she wouldn't be living up to her part of the celebrity contract. You know the one, where they agree to wear amazing clothes and parade in photographs and we agree to ooh and ah at appropriate intervals.

Besides, the key to Kim's styling is all about enhancing her curves, even if this particular curve will be one across her tummy. Her other maternity outfits have been a series of clingy tank dresses that show off not only that booty but also her burgeoning cleavage which, helped along by baby weight, is eye-poppingly spectacular. All while she totters along on 15-centimetre spiky heels.

So we can ogle for as long as we like, then tut tut about whether it's the kind of thing a pregnant woman "should" wear, but this is exactly what we expect from our most famous Kardashian. And it's started to trigger a different kind of reaction in me. One that has me reaching for stretchy dresses I've never even thought about wearing previously.

My whole life, I've dressed to downplay my curves: the less lumps and bumps the better, was always the message delivered to me. So I am a curve camouflager. I wear dresses to skim over hips, pants that mask my bottom and shirts that don't give away my bra size.

Kim Kardashian is the opposite. That is her trick. She plays up every single curve on her body. Even the curves she has on her ankles. Even the curve in the small of her back. Every outfit is chosen specifically to enhance certain ebbs and flows along her body, even if she's just going to the shops or getting on a plane. It is the complete opposite to how women have been dressing for the last 50 years.

Maybe it's time to keep this kind of thinking in mind the next time you go shopping. If you too have traditionally been a curve camouflager, instead of buying a loose dress, try on something fitted. You might discover those curves you've chosen to hide are actually your best feature.Read more here:red prom dresses