REVIEW: Fashion Forward Maternity

NOTE: normally, I’d post a review like this on my BugChild.com blog, where I have already posted about my experiences with two other maternity rental companies. However, I agreed to post this Fashion Forward Maternity review here, as the outfit was worn to a social media conference. Hope you like the info! I was compensated only with a credit for a free rental and in this case, it was valued at $23.50.

At 39 weeks pregnant, I am basically living in the same two pair of pants, rotating in one very floaty, comfortable dress. Nothing, and I mean nothing, fits, looks cute or appeals to me.

However, at 37 weeks, while emceeing the CFL BlogCon event, I felt lovely, thanks to this Kaitlyn Leopard Print Wrap dress I ordered from Fashion Forward Maternity.

(Thanks to Macbeth Photography for the pictures!)

I had a really hard time choosing the dress, because I wanted something comfortable (I ran around ALL day!) but cute, and I had no idea what would flatter my very round shape. After getting some help from you all, I opted for this wrap dress, which I knew I could cinch tightly around my waist and would hold up well through the day.

It’s a month-long rental period, so I ordered the dress on August 29th (the event was September 15th). But as I found out after ordering, the estimated delivery period was very wide — sometime between September 3rd and September 10th. Yikes! That meant that I didn’t leave myself a lot of time to return it or come up with Plan B if the outfit was a disaster, but thankfully, it all worked out. I will admit that when I tried on the dress at first, I wasn’t sure I’d picked well. It’s a bit tent-y due to my big belly, so it made me feel bigger than I was (see how I’m holding my belly above to try and show some shape?). But a more form-fitting dress would have been much harder to move in, and once I felt how stretchy the fabric was, I was happy with my choice.

The dress arrived right on time in some beautiful packaging, although I wish I’d been offered the chance to order a second size for free (I was with the other two companies I worked with). My maternity size ranges from small to extra-large (just like it does when I am not pregnant!) thanks to a small-ish tummy but big boobs, so I ordered the large just in case. I think in hindsight the medium would have fit better.

And I might have had more confidence in ordering the correct size had there been any guidance on the website — but there’s no sizing chart or other instructions.

There was free shipping both ways, which was great. BUT while I had a UPS shipping label sent to me in the package, there was no envelope or other packaging. So I had to find a UPS store (harder than just dropping it in the mailbox or FedEx box at work) and then buy an envelope. At $3, was this a big deal? Not really, but it was a pain and kind of took away the appeal of so-called free shipping.

Those bugaboos aside, I really did get a lot of nice comments about the dress through the day, and felt really great.

Fashion Forward has a really great system for finding what you want — broken down by designer, occasion, etc. And I was really impressed by the photos of not only models but “regular” people wearing the outfits. There’s no charge for normal wear and tear and everything is cleaned and inspected before shipping.

So, would I recommend FFM? Yes, absolutely. You get a great selection of outfits at very reasonable prices, and the month-long rental period means that you can get several wears out of each outfit. Happy shopping!