Wednesday, April 27, 2016

I'm a person, not a pear.


What is your body type? Do you find it helpful to follow the dressing guidelines for your type, or do you think it's too restrictive to follow these rules when you'd rather wear whatever the heck you want? I'm in the middle of these two opinions. At the blogger conference I attended a couple of weekends ago, I was lucky to have a little style consultation with Reachel Bagley of Cardigan Empire. She confirmed what I had already suspected- I have a "lower figure" body type, aka pear shape, aka a thigh gap is impossible for me (it's not a goal of mine to have gap between my thighs, by the way). 


When I first saw this photo from the conference, it was like seeing my thighs for the first time, hahaha.  I usually don't take photos posing like this, and when I'm looking into a mirror, it's never at this angle. Yo, my thighs are thick. And I've got a biggish butt, too. I knew these things, but I didn't realize that my legs looked like that in skinny jeans. Looking now, it may just look a bit accentuated because I've got my shirt tucked into my pants (a look that I've been experimenting with jeans lately, to Ryan's dismay).

I used to love makeover shows like What Not to Wear (okay, I still do), but when I realized just how unfair it seemed, I started to perceive it differently. Example- an "apple" shaped woman is given strict rules about what to shop for, while a "celery" girl is allowed many more clothing options. Okay, I realize that they're giving these two women separate rules in order to make they're clothes more flattering, but it just seems so unfair sometimes. In a particular episode, they makeover a long, lean, cool, artist, and they basically tell her that she could pull off anything with her body type. They give her cool/funky clothes that they would never give to a pear or apple, and that just made me kinda mad! Don't get me wrong, I love to see the transformations at the end! But there are just some things that I don't agree with in that show.

If I were to always dress to flatter the shape of my body and dress to make myself appear taller/longer (I'm 5'1"), I'd never wear skinny jeans, flared jeans, capri pants, turtle necks, high collared shirts, skirts past my knees, shoes with ankle straps, boots, anything oversized, anything too tight, the list goes on. HOW DEPRESSING IS THAT?

I'm glad I had that little style consultation. I found out that I'm a deep winter (ooh!) so I now know which colors are my best friends, and that my signature style is modern/boho. I respect Reachel Bagley's profession and I'm positive that she has helped a lot of women (and men) with their wardrobes. Plus she's a sweetheart and makes you feel like a babe.

But I'm still going to gladly break fashion rules.

In the words of my friend Megan, "You can pry my skinny jeans out of my cold, dead hands."


Photos taken by Let Me See You Sparkle Photography 

12 comments:

  1. I always think you look great. You have a great style, and you are gorgeous!

    ReplyDelete
  2. This sounds fun! I want a style consultation. And girl, you look best in whatever you FEEL best in. That's my motto! Confidence shines brighter than any article of clothing. You're gorgeous, and you can rock those skinnys!

    www.caseylandblog.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. Word. My hips are not a problem to hide under a-line skirts. They are mine and they are rad and I will wear pencil skirts and skinny jeans if I damn well please. Fashion rules are made to be broken.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks so much!

    ReplyDelete
  5. FOR SURE. It's sad when people lack the confidence to wear what they really like.
    And thanks! Skinny jeans to the grave!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Being real, when I saw that picture of you I was like "what a skinny Minnie!!" and then I read your words underneath and I was like wait what?!?!
    But amen to the rest of it!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I've always loved your style since I first met you like 6 years ago! So yeah I totally agree, wear whatever makes you happy!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Thanks! I'm generally happy with my body, but sometimes I see photos from a different angle and I'm caught off guard! It's like the mirror has betrayed me! haha

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm totally on board with wearing whatever makes you feel good! Whenever I start worrying about people judging how I look in clothes I always try and go back to a quote I found on the internet somewhere. It went something like "I don't exist to please your eyes" which I think is was probably originally intended to criticize the male gaze, but I think it can apply in all situations. Like even if you're dressed in unflattering clothes and don't look "good" in the traditional sense, it doesn't matter because as long as you feel good about yourself you don't have to please anyone else. Long story short- awesome post!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I need to do this too. There are some things I want to wear so badly but they look HORRIBLE on me. And then when I see a picture of what i wore I'm like "Ok never again haha". There is a stylist at Anthropologie who apparently I can meet with and she will tell all of this kind of stuff, so I'll have to let you know what she says!

    ReplyDelete
  11. Ooh, yes, I'd love to know what you find out!

    ReplyDelete

I love reading your comments. Chat with me! I reply here, so check back if you asked a question :)