STORK REALITIES : Maternity: Styles for moms-to-be have grown up, leaving frumpy smocks and infantile looks in the fashion dust. There are nice clothes for everything a woman does--at the office, home, gym or evening out.

Until five or 10 years ago, moms-to-be had a hard time finding maternity clothes that weren’t babyish.

Maternity departments were stocked with infantile styles, including dresses with round Peter Pan collars, frumpy smocks and bows everywhere. Most of the clothes were made of polyester in cutesy floral prints and awful pastels.

Maternity wear has grown up since then. From business suits to cat suits, maternity clothes are often just as trendy as the styles carried at department stores and boutiques. Expectant mothers have a far easier time finding stylish clothes for the office, home, gym or night on the town.

Sue Sullivan of Santa Ana, who is expecting her first baby in June, has noticed a big change in maternity wear since her four sisters had their babies more than five years ago.

“I went shopping with them, and it was really difficult to find anything that looked professional,” says Sullivan, an environmental senior scientist and co-owner of a construction company.

Sullivan has found a much better selection of maternity clothes that are “unclownlike.” She’s been able to assemble a small wardrobe of career wear to get her through her pregnancy by shopping at maternity stores that cater to the working mom, such as Mothers Work Maternity Shop in MainPlace/Santa Ana.

She has chosen tailored dresses in solid navy, black and other conservative colors made of natural fabrics such as cotton, linen and wool.

“I found dresses that had nice buttons and tailoring,” she says. “It’s not that cutesy bunny stuff.

“There’s still a lot of unflattering maternity wear out there. But designers are recognizing that even though we’re pregnant, we have to look professional.”

Susan Gaitan, director of membership for the Newport Beach Conference and Visitors Bureau, is expecting her first child May 27. She was also pleasantly surprised by some of the career looks, including suits and coat dresses, that she found at several maternity shops.

“Maternity styles tend to be modeled more after current fashions. You don’t feel you’re wearing a frumpy smock,” Gaitan says.

Women like Gaitan and Sullivan who demanded--and could afford--stylish maternity wear have helped change the fashion industry. When Rebecca Matthias was expecting her first child more than 10 years ago, she was frustrated by the lack of fashionable maternity wear.

“I couldn’t find anything to wear to work,” she says. “There was a total lack of clothes that had a professional look. Maternity wear was strictly a moderate-to-low-end product.”

Where others saw a gap, Matthias saw an opportunity. Thirteen years ago, she started selling her line of career-oriented maternity clothes out of a catalogue called “Mothers Work.”

Her catalogue has grown into a mini-maternity empire. Matthias is president and chief operating officer of Mothers Work Inc., based in Philadelphia. The company has four chains of maternity stores nationwide, including the Mothers Work Maternity shops, Mimi’s Maternity and a network of factory outlets called Maternity Works.

In April, the company acquired A Pea in the Pod, an upper-end maternity wear boutique with stores in Brea Mall and South Coast Plaza’s Crystal Court in Costa Mesa.

On a recent visit to the Crystal Court store, Matthias cruised the racks pointing out maternity looks that were almost unheard of until a few years ago.

There were sexy evening dresses, including an all-lace sheath ($168) in black or beige, an above-the-knee linen jumper with overall-style metal fastenings ($125), and a red sun dress with a vintage hat box print ($98). Her goal is to offer the same kind of high-end, fashion-forward clothes women buy at regular boutiques.

“We focus on clothes they can wear so they can continue to look how they looked before they got pregnant,” Matthias says.

Years ago, there wasn’t the demand for sophisticated maternity wear, she says. “Now a lot of women are having babies in their 30s, and they have more sophisticated tastes.”

In addition, some of the older first-time moms who work are high up on the career ladder. They need professional-looking clothes for the office.

“A woman who’s a professional cannot wear a smock or sweats,” says Jacqui Slotterbeck, manager of Mothers Work Maternity Shop in MainPlace. “They are CEOs, account managers and attorneys, and they’re working until a week before the baby’s due.”

Her shop carries suits, tailored dresses, jackets and other career basics as well as casual and evening wear.

There’s a four-button navy wool crepe jacket ($128) and classic navy skirt with adjustable waistband ($88), a long reversible vest with a taupe and black paisley print on one side and solid black wool crepe on the other ($88), and a classic red suit dress with brushed gold buttons ($138).

Thirty years ago, Dianne Brewer was one of the few women who worked late into her pregnancy.

“I was rare. I worked in a bank until one month before my baby was born,” says Brewer, co-owner of Style for Two in Fashion Island Newport Beach.

She envies the styles available to women today.

“When I first got into this business 15 years ago it was a world of polyester,” Brewer says. Now maternity fashions come in natural fibers such as cotton and linen as well as sophisticated microfibers.

Designers of maternity wear are also quicker to jump on trends, she says.

“It used to take a long time for trends to make it to maternity,” Brewer says. “Now they’re getting right on it.”

Japanese Weekend, a popular line designed by two women in their 30s from San Francisco, offers contemporary looks such as a black spandex cat suit ($99), a baby-doll dress out of red and white floral-print cotton ($84) and a black unitard with a bright floral knit top ($68) at Style for Two.

“Bows and Peter Pan collars have vanished,” Brewer says. “You can’t find a bow in my entire store.”