Phina Oruche

You magazine

Five women talk about their LBD's

pregnancy and beyond’

My very special dress was bought in

Australia. It was a present from my

husband Stefano after the craziness of

appearing on I’m a Celebrity…Get Me

Out of Here!. I didn’t really like the way I’d

been edited so the dress was a gift to

cheer me up.

It’s a wrapover style, made from a

stretchy fabric that never needs ironing, so

it’s wonderful when I’m travelling. It’s

served me well all over the world, but it

really came into its own when I was

pregnant. Despite the fact that my

husband had bought it when I was about a

stone underweight after the show, and I put

on four stone during my pregnancy, by the

nine-month mark, amazingly, I could still

wrap it around me – just.

Twenty days before my due date, my

waters broke but the baby wasn’t ready to

come, so the hospital sent me away with

instructions to walk around, eat hot curries

and all the other nonsense that they tell

you to do to encourage labour.

I threw on my black dress – as it was the

only thing that still fitted me – and walked

with my husband to a local Thai restaurant

in Dublin, where we were living at the time.

Halfway through the meal I realised that

things were starting to happen so we

rushed off to the hospital.

I ended up not only giving birth in my

LBD but it also became my son’s sling

when I gave him his very first feed. I loved

that dress before but it’s now priceless – I’d

never part with it. And, yes, I do still wear it.