Comfort Without The Shame
You must own at least one pair of stylish shoes that can double as walking shoes. Why?
So you don’t ever look like this:
Instead buy these:
Much Better Choice
Equally Good Choice
I like the Cole Haan/Nike Air hybrids (pictured left) but I can’t always afford them. I selected these two from their website so you would be encouraged to buy them or find similar shoes made by a less expensive company. You can get to their website here: Colehaan.com (FYI-I think the saddle shoes are on sale)
You just need a pair of shoes that allow you to run through the airport to catch a plane, do some serious shopping or outdoor concert-going without looking like a “mall walker”.
7 Black Dresses 365 Different Ways
I don’t know if it is the best idea ever and it may not be for everyone but I love it! Sheena Matheiken in NYC has started something called The Uniform Project. She has 7 identical black dresses that she will wear everyday for 365 days in order to raise money for The Akanksha Foundation. She uses vintage, etsy.com and donated items to creatively update her little black dress daily. She is also lucky enough to have some designer friends that help her out along the way. She posts each outfit on her blog. EEEEEE! New person to check in on everyday!
Here is her blog: The Uniform Project and here is a short article about Sheena from Metro Magazine.
Reinventing an outfit with accessories is a very old idea but wow! She is really good at it. There are a couple of looks that are not as good as others but who among us hasn’t worn a mistake in an effort to be creative or different? We could learn a few things from her – it probably doesn’t hurt that she is super cute and had the dress designed just her project – but who cares right? Really good idea.
Weight Loss Wear
A lady that I quite respect asked me recently what she should wear so that she avoids looking like a “hobo” as she loses her residual baby weight from baby #2. I may never have been pregnant but I do have experience with crying over clothes that no longer fit me.
Whatever you do, do not buy expensive clothing when you are in the process of losing weight. Now isn’t the time to invest in that great pair of jeans or that perfect suit. At the same time, do not buy cheap clothing! You won’t get away with it. Leave the Forever 21’s to those who are under 21. Also, I love Target, you probably love Target, we all love Target, but be careful when you are considering buying a piece of clothing from that store, especially if it is made of a synthetic blend. A lot of those cute Target clothes look good at first but as soon as you wash them they start to pill, hang funny, or just look cheap. If you buy something from Target there is also a very good chance that you will see it on countless other women as you walk around town. I don’t know about you, but I can’t stand that!
OK, so now you know what NOT to do but how should you solve this problem so that as you drop the pounds you don’t walk around disappointed every time you look in the mirror?
- Buy Used Clothing When you buy used clothing you have the opportunity to pay less for quality materials and quality construction. Since you paid so little, you don’t have to feel bad when you toss it, give it to a newly pregnant friend, or donate it to another organization. (Please see “Used Clothing Buyers Guide” page)
- Buy dresses Everyone loses weight differently but for a lot of us the first things to go are our boobs and our butts. When this happens, your clothes start to hang off you in a bad way. Your tops start to look like they are missing something and the seat of your pants start to look concave rather than convex. This is a sign of successful weight loss but it can also be a little depressing when you don’t have anything to wear. I have found that a lot of dresses can remain flattering as my weight fluxuates up and down. Consider buying a dress that has a wrap belt of some kind so that you can tie it a little tighter as you get smaller. I try to avoid clingy materials. I prefer that people have to guess where my belly button is rather than have it stand out as an obvious landmark on my stomach due to the contour-hugging fabric.
- Buy skirts As you lose weight around your waist your skirt will start to move down to your hips and as long as the skirt wasn’t molded to your butt originally, this skirt should still look like it fits you for a while. A-line skirts do this well and are pretty classic. Pencil skirts look so good on curvy women but most pencil skirts won’t be there for you when you lose the weight. Buy one of those beauties when your weight has leveled out.
- Wear great accessories Good shoes, loud shoes, beautiful, stand-out shoes will go a long way in making you feel better about your transitional clothing. Spend money on shoes. You can wear them as you lose weight and well after you reach that goal weight. Acquire a couple great simple dresses and you can really showcase your jewelry and/or the macaroni and glitter necklaces baby #1 made for you for mother’s day.
- Have fun and expect compliments
Mom is lookin' good!
Black Lace
Wear it.
Please remember that not all fancy underwear is for the benefit of the onlooker. Beautiful and/or sexy underwear can be just for you. I learned this for myself years ago when I used to cure boredom by dressing myself up in some black lace tap pants. Sometimes I would go all-out and wear vintage rhinestone jewelry and black heels while I wandered around my apartment singing loudly to Oscar Brown Jr.’s Sin and Soul. I promise you that this is not as strange as it sounds. It was very tasteful. I like to think I looked a little bit like the women from the Broadway musical Chicago. In fact, you could have just put me in the back row of dancers and I would have blended right in….except my dancing would probably not be as…. “polished”.
This exercise did two things for me: 1. It cured boredom for a few hours and 2. I realized that I looked pretty good in black lace and it was too bad that society wouldn’t let me walk around like this in public…well maybe in Nevada…. but that wasn’t the point. The point was that I felt really good about my appearance and I wasn’t hiding much of myself. This was an empowering feeling and I found that it stayed with me when I left my apartment to go to work or out to a bar with friends. (Remembering that I looked good made turning down the losers that much easier!)
Three Examples of Tap Pants
So in conclusion; I encourage you to wear black lacy things and have fun with it. It is your right to wear pretty things and wander around the house. Start small. Wear your tap pants with a t-shirt and advance if you feel like it (see image). If you have roommates, significant others, or children that you live with, you may want to be sure you are alone in the house when belting out show-tunes in your get-up of choice.
