Big Girl Dressing in a Small Girl World

Sunday, February 21, 2010

This post is going to be a combo of of a slight rant and a few style guidelines that I hope someone, somewhere, some time, will find helpful.

It's hard not being a size 2. It's hard not being able to go in a store and just find something that fits, is fashionable, and makes you feel beautiful. I am physically not ever going to be that small. My bones probably aren't even a size 2! Plus let's all be real about the fact that I'm top heavy and to work with that without appearing slutty or inappropriate is another obstacle.

The best thing I've learned about my body and from years of watching What Not To Wear (not mention from my one of the best Mom's ever) is that my body is ok just the way it is. All I have to do is learn to accept it, embrace it, and dress it in such a way that makes me feel beautiful, and things will mostly be ok.

This past weekend my sorority had a party and theme for all the sisters was that we had to wear black. There are a multitude of body sins that I work with when I'm shopping:

1) I like my shape but I don't like my stomach
2) Being top heavy I can't have anything that comes too high up in the front, but too low cut and I'm going to look sloppy
3) I don't mind my arms, but come on now: what woman doesn't want to look like she's been doing some arm curls?

All of this combined into me finally stumbling onto a dress I fell in love with, surprisingly enough from Forever 21's plus sized line. Here's the final look:


Now I loved this dress and how it did good things to my body, but let's talk about how this could have gone horribly wrong. It is very hard for busty women to pull off the tucked in look. I've decided that this is mostly due to a bad torso ratio, but no matter why, it's the truth. Even though you think you're doing something good by highlighting your waste by tucking in, you can end up seeming even larger then you actually are.

I think what made this look work was the on me in turned out to be slightly more empire wasted then tucked in. That with the pickups and the slight bubble at the bottom of the dress accentuated my hour glass shape, all without anything looking obscene. And while it's not the perfect angle, the height of my shoes also made everything seem really in proportion all over.

But of course for me, no look is just about the clothes. I really love creating a cool makeup look for events, and using some opinion feedback I decided to go with a very vibrant eye focused look that incorporated my sorority's colors:


I did this look using Urban Decay's Alice in Wonderland palette and added on some extravagant lashes by Ardel that I got at CVS.

Well I hope that was a somewhat interesting/helpful tutorial about feeling attractive, dressing great, and being happy as a big girl in a small girl world!
Christie said...

Dana - you are too fly for words! Thank you for this...and as your shopping companion for said party..thank you for helping me feel beautiful (a 6 foot tall size 16)! I can't wait for you to go pro :-)

Dana said...

I'm glad you had fun and even happier you like the post! I'll probably do more of them as they come to me just because I don't feel like people talk about what it means to dress as a size 14+ - not without a lot of tailoring anyway.

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