Blake Lively makes the most out of her maternity wardrobe malfunction on Instagram

Who needs maternity clothes? Not Blake Lively. 

$500 — that’s the average amount a pregnant mom shells out for a maternity wardrobe in a 9-month period, per pregnancy, according to Fortune. While we save for our unpaid maternity leaves, baby contraptions and formula, and more, that’s an unwelcome number. Though she can probably afford it, Blake Lively isn’t having any of that shenanigans, as she heads to the finish line with her fourth child with husband Ryan Reynolds.

On Instagram on Jan. 8, she posted potentially the most creative and stunning maternity outfit, after noting that both her dress and skirt wouldn’t zip or button. So together, they made a maternity outfit better than anything we are going to find at the MIA maternity stores no longer located in our local malls, in most cases.

Related: Our favorite places to find affordable maternity clothes you’ll actually want to wear

“When the back of your skirt won’t zip, and the front of your dress won’t button. Wear both. Who says two wrongs don’t make a right?” she jokes. Basically, this Blake Lively wardrobe hack is genius.

She wears a black and white polka dot dress, unbuttoned down the front except at the chest, combined with a long black skirt, turned backward, where nobody can see the unzipped side. The dress flows around her growing belly, and the whole outfit looks totally on purpose and on point.

Lively has no doubt gotten more creative through parenting their three daughters, James, Inez, and Betty, ages 3-8, and is appealing to the “everymom” throughout her pregnancy, joking about her changing body with ease and laughter. She poses with her trainer just after the New Year, both before and during her pregnancy, joking “something isn’t working.” 

Related: Blake Lively expecting baby number 4 is a big deal in normalizing big families

She also is really sick of the pressure to show overeager photojournalists her bump. In September, she posted a picture in a super cute red one-piece swimsuit, with a flower cut out at the belly, writing, “Here are photos of my pregnancy in real life so the 11 guys waiting outside my home for a [unicorn] sighting will leave me alone. You freak me and my kids out.”

In addition to an eye for creative maternity wear, she seems to have hubby Reynolds wrapped around her finger. In December, he said at the People’s Choice Award, “You are my heart, you are my hope, you are my happiness. I joke that my family exhausts me, but in reality you give me more strength than I can possibly deserve.”

If Lively’s outfit has you inspired to opt out of a $500 maternity wear spending spree, and repurpose what’s already in your closet, here’s what you can try:

• Make your stretchiest leggings go the distance — many brands can fit your growing bump well into the third trimester, then doubling as forgiving postpartum wear
• A long, stretchy tank can both hold up unbuttoned pants, especially if they aren’t heavy fabric, and can give you extra bump support
• A single long tank can look like many different outfits, paired with long cardigans and those stretchy leggings
• Scour your closet for stretchy dresses, tunics, and work blouses that are totally reusable through at least the first and second trimesters
• And when you really need some “real” maternity pants, especially towards the end, check out your local buy nothing Facebook page, and similar mom groups and friends for hand-me-downs to save money.

With a little creativity, we can pull a Lively without spending much at all, whether we are in pregnancy week 10 or 40.