Are you waiting to lose weight to get dressed? 3 reasons why you shouldn’t…
I’m just wondering if you’re anything like me, and sometimes decide not to get dressed because you’ve gained some weight? Of course, as women, we can also blame societal pressure for making us feel like we need to lose weight before buying that LBD (Little Black Dress), we’ve been eyeing.
I have to admit, like many women, I am constantly going up and down the scale. As an adult woman, I’ve been every size in the spectrum between 6 and 20.
At times, the last thing I want to do in the morning is get dressed. Let me tell you from personal experience, not getting dressed makes you feel worse. And who has time for that?!?!
I’m not saying that we can’t feel down at times about needing to lose a little weight. Hell…I don’t know about you, but the Covid-19 pound weight gain is real!!! Don’t even get me started on that!
Deep down inside…
I know that I need to get up off the couch and get moving! Not running through malls or physically working in clients closets every week is definitely catching up to me, but I still need to get dressed. Not just to show up for clients via Zoom, but most of all… for me. And YOU should too!
I’m a firm believer in women looking good, no matter what the scale says and how much that can fluctuate. After all, life is about rolling with the times, and evolving. Remember, even when you do lose the weight, that will be another transition. And once again it will be important to curate a closet of clothes that compliments your updated body and lifestyle.
I remember coming home from the hospital after having my twins. I looked in the mirror and did not recognize myself. Even though I had worked in fashion my entire life (my grandmother owned a vintage store in San Francisco), I had absolutely no idea how to dress my new body…
However, I decided to figure it out because the price of not getting dressed was too high! I was full of ambition, goals, and dreams, and I did not want to start living my life new life as a twin mom feeling insecure, ugly, and frankly unpolished.
While I was pregnant…
I had decided to go into Personal Styling and knew I needed to look and feel the part to succeed! Knowing that I was no longer representing corporate fashion companies and brands, I would have to represent MYSELF. And I wanted to show up confidently as my best self in the body that I was in.
I’m not going to lie, it was a journey, but I did the work. So when CNN called to interview me about professional wardrobes, I was ready. When the top fashion magazine wanted to highlight me as one of the top DC Fashion professionals, your girl was READY!
Here are the 3 tremendously hard lessons that I learned, that I want to pass on to you:
1. LIFE DOES NOT STOP BECAUSE YOU’VE GAINED A FEW POUNDS
Every time I think, “What would have occurred if I waited to start POLISHED after my body came back from having twins?”, I shake my head. Why? Because honestly, I’d still be waiting to this day! That body never came back! What amazed me most about learning to dress my body was how I became more confident as a plus size woman than I ever was at a size 8/10. I am currently a size 12 and I love my curves!
2. IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S THE CLOTHES… SERIOUSLY
As many pre-production fitting meetings that I had led during my corporate fashion days, you would think that post-twins, I would’ve automatically known how important it is for women to use tailors! Fashion brands have what is called Block Patterns (which is a size med/8), and these patterns are used to develop the clothes we buy as consumers.
The issue with block patterns is, there are no standard measurements in the fashion industry for all med/8 patterns to be the same. This is why you are a size 8 in one fashion brand and a size 10 in another.
So as women who want to look good, we have to take the fit of our clothes into our own hands. Tailors are honestly the secret weapon of many women who have great style and they are not expensive. You can literally take a $59.99 pair of pants you scored on the sales rack to a tailor, have them hemmed perfectly to your height for $15, and look and feel like perfection just like that!
3. LOOKING AMAZING IS NOT ASSOCIATED WITH A SIZE
Now, I’m from a family with beautiful women of all different shapes and sizes. For that, I am so thankful! My childhood consisted of watching my mother custom design wedding gowns for women in our living room, and let me tell you, looking amazing and feeling beautiful is not associated with a size.
When you make the effort to get up and get dressed in clothes that flatter, colors that make you radiate, and details that make you come alive, you just feel amazing! You also feel more in control and motivated to live your life to the fullest.
Seeing this transformation in my clients weekly is what makes me jump out the bed in the morning!
If you’re ready to get your style back on track, don’t hesitate to take the #GetYourStyleBack Quiz by clicking HERE! Listen, there’s no need to waste time waiting to lose weight. Life is too precious to waste over clothes that make you feel blah… just keeping it real.
XOXO,
Robin
