Bianca gallery
It’s hard to believe it’s been over three years since Bianca Balti was walking Dolce & Gabbana’s Fall 2015 runway while eight months pregnant, beaming in a rosy-pink sheath. It was a heartwarming, unforgettable show, but that was also one of the very few times we’ve seen a pregnant model on the runway. (Other models carried their babies or walked hand-in-hand with toddlers in matching dresses—even flipping through the photos now, you can’t help but smile).
Balti probably held onto that perfect-fitting pink dress, too; so much chicer than a shapeless jersey maternity gown. In fact, maybe it helped inform her latest venture: an eponymous line of maternity dresses, which she’s debuting today in Milan. Like many women in this business, she initially developed the idea for her line, Bianca Balti Maternity, out of need. Eleven years ago, when she was pregnant with her first daughter, Matilde, she was frustrated with the options for maternity clothing. “I remember just being shocked that I couldn’t find anything nice,” she says. “A lot of the maternity clothes I found looked outdated or not very special, and I felt like they were designed for someone older—not a 20- or 30-year-old who is actually having a baby. Now, you can find more maternity jeans, T-shirts, and basics, but I always struggled when I had a work dinner or a wedding or a party. So I wanted to start with a small collection of beautiful, luxurious dresses.”
Photos of pregnant style icons like Grace Kelly, Brigitte Bardot, and Jane Birkin inspired the ’60s baby-doll dresses in Balti’s debut collection. There’s a black velvet shirtdress with jewel buttons and a contrast collar; a blush-pink ruffled knit tunic; a teal velvet puff-sleeved dress; a few simple cotton shirtdresses; and little bouclé bolero jackets to layer on top for a bit of structure. Each dress is also sold with matching bloomers. “I love the idea of showing your legs, and still being able to move around and bend over because you have these cute little bloomers underneath,” Balti says. “Each dress is also designed so you can wear it with pants, so it can be quite [revealing] or actually the opposite.” Another endearing fact: Balti said the silhouettes were partly inspired by her daughters’ clothes, “because kids’ clothes never have a waistline, either!”
Balti is wearing one of those dresses tomorrow night on the Green Carpet Fashion Awards red carpet—and no, she isn’t pregnant. “I want my brand to be sustainable, because you aren’t going to buy a dress and only wear it for nine months,” she says. “I want to show that you can wear it before and after, too.” The dresses will be available later this week on her new website biancabalti.com.
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