Danielle Brooks created her Fit Liberty (Mom) maternity collection because she couldn’t find clothes that complemented her figure without looking “baggy.”
The “Orange Is the New Black” star — who revealed in July that she is pregnant with her first child, a girl, with an unnamed partner — decided to launch the line with the inclusive brand Universal Standard because she didn’t feel anywhere else was making pieces fit for expectant mothers of different shapes and sizes.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she said: “For some women, the only thing that is changing is their belly. It’s not their thighs and it’s not their arms. I was finding that my clothes were just looking baggy and not looking fit for me. As a consumer, it feels like people in this industry are acting as if they hear you as a consumer, but they really don’t. They act as if they’re listening to what we want, and I don’t really feel like they 100 percent do.”
The 30-year-old beauty also heaped praise on designer Christian Siriano — who launched his namesake collection in 2008 — for always making her feel like “a million bucks” and dressing her in clothes which make her feel “comfortable” and flatter her figure, just like she aims to do with the collection for Universal Standard.
She said: “I’m just grateful for people like Christian Siriano, who I can call and say, ‘Hey, I really want to feel like a million bucks at my last premiere for ‘Orange Is the New Black.’ Can you help me out?”
“He’s smart enough to find the material to make sure that I’m comfortable and make sure that everything fits like a glove. And I appreciate his ear, the fact that he listens, and I feel the same way about Universal Standard,” she said.
