I’d like to share something with you.
Despite never having been overweight, I’m still the victim of the damaging body hang-ups that so many women share.
But, something changed for me on one specific day. This life-changing day was a few months after one of my pregnancies. I was preparing to return to my corporate job and had decided to treat myself to some new work trousers. I was feeling very pleased with myself because having lost most of the baby weight I was close to my original size. I picked up some trousers in my usual size and took them into the fitting room. When I tried them on, I almost cried. I was nowhere near getting the button done up!
I have always been self-conscious of my tummy, which is where I focus my attention when I’m trying on clothes. Seeing those trousers straining over my middle, all I could think was: “What is wrong with my body?!”
What I didn’t notice was that around my thighs and bottom were great swathes of material where the trousers were far too big!
I almost gave up and trudged home but something made me nip into another shop. This time I took my usual size and the same pair, but one size bigger, into the changing room. This time I was relieved to find I could easily fit into the smaller of the two. I immediately started to feel great again and it lifted my spirits for the rest of the day. (Pathetic really isn’t it?!)
What I discovered that day was this: certain shops cut their clothes for people with smaller waists and larger hips/bottoms while other shops cut for straighter figure types like mine with thicker waists and proportionally slimmer hips and bottoms. The trick to dressing for your body shape is knowing this fact, and finding out which shops cut for your type of body.
When I completed my image consultant training back in 2009, I learnt all of this and have never had that hideous fitting room experience again. Nobody should have to feel like that. We are all different. You may have body parts that you wish looked different but learning to love yourself, as you are today and working out how to choose clothes that make you feel a million dollars is something every woman should have the means to do.
If you’d like to learn how to focus more on your best bits, sign up for my free video series. It not only helps you to understand your figure type better, you’ll also find great tips on how to choose the most flattering colours for your skin tone, tune into your true style and learn how to accessorise in a way that will work for you. Get access to the videos by clicking here.
Great read, and yep I think its fair to say women are general a self deprecating bunch. We see to see what we don’t like when we should be focused on our assets and drawing attention to them.
Always handy to know your body type, how to dress it and where to find those styles.
Thank you for an interesting article, I look forward to your webinar