Abstract
This research developed maternity wear designed with a focus on the essential functions necessary for working women and adaptable to their body changes during pregnancy. Through Martin's anthropometry for 201 pregnant women, the size specifications for maternity wear was determined and a dress form was proposed, in order to provide the manufacturer with reference data and a prototype to verify their products' fit and suitability. From a monthly analysis on the body measurements of pregnant women, significant monthly differences and after pregnancy were found in weight, chest girth, bust girth, under bust girth, waist girth, and hip girth. Dress form was designed based on the average body measurements of women in their 6th to 10th month of pregnancy. The standard dimensions in the 8th month were 90cm (chest), 94cm (bust), 86cm (under bust), 97cm(waist: most protruding part on the side), and 99cm (hip). Compared with Japan's MAT-9 (for nine months), chest girth was the same, while the Korean waist girth and hip girth were larger by 2cm and 3cm, respectively. The woven fabric blouse was evaluated as having the best appearance, while the knitted fabric one was judged as being more comfortable it terms of functionality. For the pants, the design details of the lowered waist and curved waist belt were more functional. The tailored jacket was the best design for working women in terms of both looks and functionality. To summarize, maternity wear for working women, unlike general maternity clothes, should be designed with consideration for the wearer's somatotype and activity. Elastic materials were appropriate for functionality and dealing with physical changes. With the increasing of working pregnant women, such trials are expected to continue in this research area in order to develop functional maternity wear with multi-purposes such as breast-feeding, wearability after delivery and shielding from microwave.
