Jan 30, 2017 | Clothing, Fashion, New Year
Back in October, I wrote a very personal blog surrounding my statistics and set myself a target of loosing 23lbs to achieve a baseline weight of 13 stone. Nearly 4 months in to this personal challenge, I ‘am happy to report an overall weight loss of 15 1/2 lbs.
This has been a very gradual process with the help of Slimming World, to educate myself on how to achieve a healthy relationship with food. 4 months in and I can honestly say that it hasn’t felt like a diet, as I’ve not had to deprive myself of everything that I love. It’s all about choice and compromise (like most things in life), and also knowing the effects of having a blow out, whether it be a take-away, alcohol, meals out, or if you share my weakness, breaking in to the kids treat box! All of these “pick me ups” have a very real effect on weight gain and when you realize the extent of this you can start to make informed decisions about whether you really want that extra glass of wine or whatever your emotional food crutch might be!
No matter where you are on your body image journey, in terms of dressing for a slimmer silhouette, there are things that you can do that will give you the appearance of a thinner you. If Christmas has left you feeling a little rounder than you’d like, then these simple yet effective strategies may help.
- Wearing a darker colour from your palette over your largest point can give the illusion of a thinner silhouette. Not everyone has black in their palette and the other dark neutrals can be just as effective. Navy, Charcoal Grey, Chocolate Brown and Damson are all fabulous when trying to create a slimmer version of you.
- Wearing one colour from head to toe can make you look taller and slimmer (this includes your footwear and hosiery)
- Adding a heel to your outfit can also have the effect of slimming down your silhouette
I have not got to my personal target yet, but I have no doubt in my mind that I will get there and when I do, I promise to share it with you (if I’m brave enough I may even share a picture in my size 22 swimsuit which will no doubt still fit me as I will still need the extra fabric to stretch over my longer than average body)!
For now, I’m simply happy to take control of my eating habits, safe in the knowledge that I’m working towards a very achievable goal, and satisfied that “I’m good enough!”
Dec 16, 2016 | Christmas, Clothing, Fashion, New Year
It gets to this time of year and many of my clients start to panic over outfit choices for those all important Christmas Party’s. Whether it’s meeting your other halves work colleagues or spending time with your own team, we all want to arrive looking and feeling the very best we can.
There are many ways in which we can create optical illusions in the way that we dress or apply our make-up to make us look taller, shorter, slimmer, younger, even more powerful!
Starting form the head down, the way we cut or style our hair can have a big impact on our face shape. By giving my hair some volume at the top here, i’m creating the illusion of an oval faceshape. Because my face narrows out in to a point at the chin, by wearing drop earings i’am creating the appearance of a wider chin as you focus on the base of the earings rather than my narrow jaw line!
I have rather a long neck so i can accomondate the high neck line on this dress.
In choosing a mid tone colour, it’s more flattering on my larger frame than the pastels that feature heavily in my palette.
My top half is wider than my bottom half so i’ve choosen volume at the base of this dress to even out my shoulder width.
The embroidery on the top section of the dress acts to create a colour block, thereby breaking up my silhouette which has the effect of making me look shorter. I do this a second time by teaming the dress with black tights and shoes.
I think any outfit teamed with a glass of fizz is a winning combination for one and all!
Happy Christmas everyone!!!!
Nov 26, 2016 | Clothing, Fashion, Style
Looking back to Primary School and High School, I was always in the middle of the back row for class photograph’s regardless of the fact that many of my female friends were sat amongst the front row.
I was Christened late (age 11), a consequence of being the 3rd child in the family and life simply taking over as it does, but I remember how acutely embarrassing it was to dwarf the Vicar whilst standing at the font.
Reaching 6ft 4″ by age 15 was simply awful for my introverted, shy, teenage self, but not only that, shopping became a bit of a nightmare too. I remember trying so hard to follow the fashion trends that were prominent when I was a teenage girl. Some were very easy, the Doc Martin boot which came in men’s sizes to fit my size 10 feet, but others not so forgiving like the Naff Naff jacket with sleeves that would finish just below my elbow or Sweater Shop jumpers that weren’t long enough in the body.
It felt as though every fashion trend was out to taunt me and this just isolated me even more.
I wish I could go back to that 15 year old girl and teach her the skills that I now have in abundance when attempting to dress a larger scale. I would tell her to concentrate on large accessories and handbags to balance out her bigger frame. I would advise on avoiding smaller delicate prints on fabric and instead go bold which flatters a larger skeleton.
I would also tell her to embrace all of those wonderful qualities that makes her unique and different from everyone else and celebrate them. Unfortunately I can’t go back and give my 15 year old self a good swift kick up the behind but what I can do is teach my “unique” children to celebrate every inch of themselves and not concentrate too much on the numbers, for instance: height, weight, shoe size, boob size, willy size, school grades, etc and instead, work towards becoming the best version of themselves. This I feel will give them what we’re all searching for, a glimmer of contentment in a world where it’s become very easy to be swallowed up with self doubt.
I’m going to enlist the help of my friend and colleague Alison White to demonstrate how much of an affect scale can have whilst dressing to flatter our skeleton. Alison won’t mind me sharing with you that she’s 4ft 10″ tall so if you hadn’t gleamed it in the pics above, we really are polar opposites on height and scale.
As you can see above, Alison is dwarfed by larger patterns and larger accessories, they simply don’t “marry” up and harmonise with her delicate skeleton. I, on the other hand look a little like I’m dressing for church in a re run of Little House On The Prairie. The small flower print dress, petite handbag and tiny necklace are just emphasizing my larger than average frame. It simply doesn’t compliment me.
When we dress to compliment our scale, the results, I’m sure you agree, are much more flattering and easy on the eye!
Should you want to learn more about the rules for dressing your body shape for success then why not consider paying me a visit for a style analysis session and help create the best version of you!
Oct 27, 2016 | Accessorize, Clothing, Fashion, Style
For anyone who knows me well, then public humiliation and ridicule is not top of my list for favourite pastimes. However, having made a decision to shape up and loose weight, I’ve had multiple people tell me I don’t need to! Great that I’m obviously doing my job properly by disguising all my wobbly bits but not great for my discerning customers who can’t visibly see my day to day “challenges” that I have with my body shape.
I therefore decided to be very honest with you all and share the less than flattering photo above to demonstrate the real me without my how to dress rules to rely on! This coupled with my statistics should help you to see that no matter how fabulous the girl next door looks, there will ALWAYS be a challenge that she’ll have to overcome, it’s just that some are more visible than others.
So here goes (deep intake of breath)……………
Stats:
Height: 6ft 4″
Weight: 14 stone 9lbs (heavier than Mr Clark since the arrival of Sam Wise 6 years ago, oh the shame)
Foot size: 10
Inside Leg: 36″
Dress size: 14 (bottoms/16-18 top depending on shop)
Swimsuit size: 22 (cringe – need the extra stretch in the fabric to stretch over my ridiculously long body)
Challenges:
Height – obviously
Buying women’s shoes without a heel
Buying clothes – unless I shop in Holland
Underarm cleavage
A belly like jelly
An inability to EVER go brown!
A lack of hips to keep trousers where they should be.
As you can see in the picture on the left, belts are not my best friends, so I avoid wearing them at all costs! Knowing what my challenges are and being totally honest with myself is the perfect place to start when dressing for success as you aren’t trying to fool anyone! I no longer covert styles and outfits that don’t flatter me because life is too short to stand in a changing room feeling depressed at what is looking back. Life is about accepting who we are and what we’ve got to celebrate.
My personal target is 13 stone which is the weight I was when I started University (my belly was still like jelly then but just in a smaller capacity! That’s the thing about your body shape – it’s to do with the shape of your skeleton so my style rules at 13 stone will be the same as the ones I follow now, just with an overall smaller dress size)! I promise to share with you my good news when I reach my personal target and perhaps a photo or two!!!
Aug 4, 2016 | Clothing, Fashion, Style, Summer
It’s that time of year again, schools have broken up and people are rushing around getting ready for their summer holidays.
In years gone by, I’ve found the process of holiday packing a really stressful experience. However, having learnt from Colour Me Beautiful’s finest I don’t even shudder at the thought now, as it’s all done for you with the help of your colour and style rules. You’ll find that once you’ve created a wardrobe around your colour palette, in styles that suit you, your wardrobe will all start to co-ordinate itself!
Above is an example of my 2 weeks holiday case both laid out for you to see and then packed and ready for the off. I hope you’ve noticed that I’ve even got room for those all important souvenirs!!!
My capsule case consists of:
2x’s swimsuits
2x’s pj’s
underwear
3x’s trousers
2x’s shorts
1x’s short skirt
2x’s dresses
2x’s cardigans
2x’s jumpers (fine knit)
Ix’s jacket
4x’s vest tops in wow colours
8x’s tops/t-shirts
3x’s scarves
accessories
1x’s pumps
1x’s evening shoe
1x’s flats
1xs trainers to wear for journey.
Wherever you’re heading this summer, have fun!
Jun 29, 2016 | Clothing, Fashion, Style
Having launched my new “Dress To Impress” workshops this week I thought it appropriate to concentrate on style this month!
We all have our own individual sense of style, some of us more creative than others who feel much happier sticking to what we’ve always done (I say this with a voice of experience as trying new things is a real challenge for me)! Knowing what your style personality is, along with how that translates to the choices you make whilst shopping, is crucial as there will be times when every one of us needs to override our style personality! For example a silk neck tie brings with it a sense of romantic, creative and even dramatic flair, however if you’ve got a short neck and bigger bust, despite “loving how it looks”, it’s better in this instance to step away from the neck tie that will simply make your neck look shorter and rounder and your bust look bigger!
Time and time again my clients will focus on being a certain dress size. It simply does not matter what dress size you are as long as you’re dressing your body shape accurately and in the right fabric. In doing so you can instantly make yourself look slimmer, fitter and healthier. Once you know your rules on how to dress for your individual body shape, height, scale and proportions you will stop focusing on the size of the garment and will instantly feel more confident in the way you look.
It’s not just the clothes that we put on our body it’s also the accessories that we wear and carry! Knowing what size, shape, colour and style suits you is crucial to adding the finishing pieces to your overall look. Be warned ladies, the oversized handbag is making an appearance in the A/W 2016 collections. If you’re below 5ft 3″ in height or have a foot size smaller than a 4 I would approach with caution! For all of my clients who are 5ft 7″ and over then next season is your time to stock up on handbags (I know I will be)!
Remember ladies….. The art of looking good and more importantly feeling good is not labelling your body shape or size, but learning how to make the most of your assets whilst disguising the areas of our bodies that we find the least appealing!
Look Good, Feel Great, Be Confident!
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