You might well have been wondering if I was ever going to wear any colour apart from black again. I had wondered myself. ;) I'm glad to say the urge for colour hasn't completely left me. I love orange shades at this time of year - it reminds me of the lovely leaves and pumpkins, and of course the wrappings on Reese's chocolate. Om nom nom!
I pulled this dress out to sell recently but found what I thought was a pen mark on the chest, but it's actually where a tiny piece of darker thread found its way into the mix. It rendered it unsaleable but for all but a pittance, so I thought 'Sod it!' and kept it. It doesn't even show up on camera, score! The brooch, the wet look leggings and the shoes are my nod to the alternative in this outfit.
And it has pockets! Hurrah. I have to say - although I love the look of these shoes - they're singularly the most uncomfortable pair of shoes I've ever worn. They hurt my feet within 3 steps taken, but they look so good. I shall prevail! I'll try to stretch them.
I've deliberately included a shot of my VBO (visible belly outline) in the collage below. Body confidence is a never ending quest, because our bodies are always changing. Be it pregnancy, weight loss or gain, menopause, ill health or stress our bodies wax and wane all the time. If we tell ourselves we'll only love ourselves at X size or X weight, we're setting ourselves up for a lot of heartache.
I know that although I may have some grumbles about my body now, in another 20 years I'll be looking back at photos of this time wistfully and kicking myself for beating myself up now. As I transition into that dreaded time of life for a woman I've already noticed a thickening of my waist because the way women distribute fat at this time of life changes. I've noticed sudden changes in my face because the collagen in your skin decreases as you near menopause. If my self-worth hinged on loving myself when I look like X I'd be permanently miserable. No, I tell myself every day I CHOOSE TO LOVE MYSELF. And I will ALWAYS choose to love myself, because it's the best thing for my mental health. Last time I checked thick waists and wrinkly faces don't bar anyone from doing amazing things with their lives, so why should I love myself any less? I promise you, if you set off down this road to self-acceptance, it'll be the best gift you could ever give yourself. The work is never done as we're always in a state of flux, but it's the most worthwhile task ever. And if you can be an example to a young person with body image issues, you are going to change lives. Don't doubt it. Plus, doesn't that belly look dang cute?! I love it.
I was feeling cute yesterday, hence the wealth of photos. I'm even enjoying my badger streak of grey at the front, but I'll henna over it when I tire of it! I'm getting an undercut put back in on Saturday, on the opposite side to the big grey streak. When I had the undercut on that side from a distance it looked like a big bald patch, so I'm going for the side with less grey. I don't know how big of an undercut to go for though - I'd best look at some inspiration photos!
This dress is an oldie from Simply Be, one of their bespoke fit dresses for different boob cup sizes. This one came in 3 different sizes depending how big your boobs are, and I plumped for the middle one as I'm an E cup.
Dress, past season Simply Be
Cardigan, past Everything 5 Pounds
Cross brooch, New Look
Leggings, past season Very
Shoes past ASOS
These shoes aren't wide fit, so I sized up from a 7 to an 8. Generally this is sufficient for a comfy fit but ASOS shoes are longer and narrower than other shoes I've sized up in.
Oh God, I'm a horrible human being! I just went to the Simply Be site to see if they had any similar bespoke fit dresses to link for you (nope) and I've broken my year long ban! I fell in love with one of the Jameela Jamil dresses and a Joanna Hope sparkly number. My resolve has finally crumbled! They're the only Christmas dresses I'll be buying this year. Ugh, I have no control at all when I'm pre-menstrual. I need to be in a cage. ;)
Thanks for reading,
Leah xoxo
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