It was a particularly bitter evening, despite the warmer temps. There was a stiff wind blowing off Cook Inlet which probably dropped the windchill to zero or below. It wasn’t an opera, since I would rather be flayed alive than go to one. Just a symphony concert.
Waverly: hairline comment already discussed.
kaiwik: been to your fair island in the past. Like most “bush” communities, dress codes don’t exist and sometimes dress is optional altogether.
Pregnancy has the major effect of making your clothes no longer fit. Not everyone can or wants to buy a whole new supersized wardrobe for a few months- especially when they live in a climate where their clothing is likely to be covered by heavy jackets and perhaps they blew their clothing wad buying a heavy jacket that can accommodate a pregnant woman.
It’s just skin. It’s not gonna kill you. Everyone on this earth doesn’t exist to make your life more attractive.
You don’t want to spend a fortune on maternity clothes? Great, buy a few men’s t-shirts and sweatshirts. Don’t want to buy them at full-price? Go to a thrift store; you’re not going to be wearing them for long in any case. I know women who never buy a single article of maternity clothing who nevertheless never let their bare belly hang out. In any weather. It’s just not necessary.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has a one-night-per-week after work symphonic “sampler” program designed to draw new listeners. Casual dress is fine for those performances. Maybe this is something along those lines? Though I agree it’s a bit over the top to have the belly hanging out. But that counts for any public space that isn’t a beach. It’s just a bit much.
True. We do have an active Arts Council and they bring in some great entertainment. There is the social tier in Kodiak who insist on putting on formals, furs and dripping diamonds while being escorted by their men in tuxes, while being seated next to fishermen straight off the boat in their carharts and Xra Tuffs, it’s quite an interesting sight.
I love the Bush!
What Mama Tiger said. No one is so poor that they can’t afford to get men’s clothes from Wal-Mart or the thrift store. Hell, pregnancy crisis centers and charities specifically collect maternity clothing.
But hey, if you want to look like a two-bit whore with your belly hanging out, by all means do it. Just don’t expect a universally warm reaction.
Robin
Yeah, I agree that lack of funds doesn’t excuse being uncovered. My local Goodwill store has a nice selection of maternity clothes. You could probably get a decent maternity wardrobe there for under $50.
Read the thread again-someone asked that and he said it reminded him of the Geico commercial with the cavemen. You know, the low brow ridge, hairline-meets-eyebrows thing?
Damnit, if pregnant women can run around showing their bellies and people deem it appropriate, then I demand the right to run around in public wearing shorts with unshaven legs and not get funny looks!
No shit? Damn, what insight. Your mother must be so proud.
Here in Melbourne, it seems to be the attractive young yups who are exposing their bellies…sort of like a desire to revert to their gym days of showing their tanned and muscled tummies, only minus the muscle, and with added linea nigra!! They can certainly ‘afford’ maternity clothes, but they choose not to wear them.
First time I saw one, I was aghast. Second time perplexed. Now, I just laugh and try to imagine the same tummy being exposed so gratuitously a week after birth, with the sagging skin and the encrustment from leaking milk!!
Eh, you’ve gotta love new-mums. They provide so much amusement. 
Wait a minute. I’m already living in mortal fear of my belly button popping out if I become pregnant (sorry, outties freak me out) and now I find out that it hurts, too??
Just kill me now.
It gets very sensitive because the skin is so thin there and clothing rubbing against it hurts. But like I said, use a band aid or a bit of moleskin, works wonders.
jjim, while the link works, the pics on it don’t (which I think is what you were using as an example).
I think the visible pregnant belly thing started maybe about 7 or 8 years ago. IIRC, The Enquirer and other celeb-watching magazines published pictures which showed pregnant celebrities who were not hiding their bellies, with captions pointing this out. As I remember, these ladies were casually dressed and out doing errands or something. They were usually maybe 5-6 months pregnant, and showing a few inches of skin between their shirts and pants. IMHO, they looked rather cute. I think it’s a good thing that pregnant women don’t feel they have to hide under maternity tents.
Unfortunately, this trend has been taken way too far.
There’s a big difference between a little pooched out second trimester belly and a straining at the seams 8-9 month belly. And there’s a big difference between showing a few inches and showing the whole darn thing.
Nobody should be showing their entire belly in most public situations. And while I appreciate that an opera in Alaska might have a different dress code (or lack thereof) than an opera at the Met, I think we can all agree that it’s best to err on the side of modesty.
Actually, any situation where you’re going to be sitting in close proximity to strangers is a good time to dress modestly. I don’t really care if guys walk around in tank tops in the summertime, but I sure as heck don’t want to be crammed in next to a guy in a tank top on an airplane.
on preview–Viridiana–FWIW, my belly button didn’t pop out, and it didn’t hurt. I think it just depends on the individual.
OMG! You are right! How did I miss that trend right here in NZ when blokes of “certain” ethnicities where their t-shirts as hats! What you don’t know about the t-shirt as hats trend?
I’m sorry I speak as a 39 yr old woman who frequently goes barefoot to the supermarket and comes from a “culture” where being barefoot is more something you are supposed to grow out of rather then something that is socially unacceptable.
Here’s the best of both worlds. She could have dressed up AND had a comfortable, easy breezy belly.
I don’t know, maybe I’m strange, but to me tube tops are beach wear/yard wear/house wear/you get the idea, with more slack given as summer draws nearer. Actually, a girl was in my place of employment today (a drugstore), in March and in the rain I might add, and as soon as she came in she removed her outer sweater and walked around the store in a top cropped just below her ribcage. It was weird. I mean, I don’t really actively care, but “WTF? It’s MARCH!!!” began running on a ticker along the bottom of my mind’s eye whenever she wandered into my view.