Before going too far, we need to stretch. Talk about stretch fabrics that is. As you slim down, you'll want to try stretch pants. They can be body slimming in the misses' sizes. Avoid stretch pants that look great when you put them on but puddle at the knees around noon. Good stretch pants look good all the day long.
Some pants have an inside 'tummy' trimmer, a little mini girdle inside the pant. Great idea but make sure when you tuck a shirt in that the 'tummy' trimmer doesn't try to grapple with the shirt edges making it next to impossible to get a smooth look.
Here's what I've found works in buying pants:
- Jeans in all colors. Jeans are cheap and the fit can be pretty amazing.
The lowdown on the big box stores
K-Mart has a great jean selection. Don't look for anything beyond khaki, black and denim but the price is right and the jeans are nice enough to wear to work any day of the week.
A step up costwise is Kohl's but the store outdoes itself in selection. Gloria Vanderbilt jeans tend to fit smart (read: you'll wear a size larger than other manufacturers) but the fit is great and the color assortment fantastic. Look for Kohl's coupons in the paper to make the trip to the cash register hurt less. blogger update: I bought Gloria Vanderbilt jeans today at Kohl's for $19.99, you can't beat that. - Slacks
Wal-Mart has the best selection with twill pants with elastic waists. For us gals who are losing weight, elastic waists can help give our bottoms a great fit.
I love Target but their pants tend to be less than 'standard' with 'need-to-iron' fabrics, cargo pant pockets, pinstripes, cuffed hems, bell bottoms. When you're down'sizing' your fashion focus shouldn't be on the bottoms.
Once you get in the misses' sizes, I suggest you start tucking shirts in. Find a department store that has their own brand of slacks. You want inexpensive yet looking nice.
Macy's JM Collection of pants were a godsend for me. They are available in a multitude of colors and options: petites, regular and tall, misses' and women's sizes, elastic waist, zippered front with belt loops and side zipper styles.
During the first leg of my weight loss, the stretch pull-on straight leg pant was perfect for my figure that tends to lose the inches last on my waist. Now in the misses' category, I'm aopting for side or front zipper styles. And at $24.98, these pants are priced to fit my budget. And did I mention they need very little ironing. Online shopping tends to have the best availability in sizes and colors. Bonus benefit: Once I found these pants, shopping became a breeze. Pants becoming a bit loose? Go online and buy the next lower size.
2. Have fun with tops Show off your newly emerging figure.
- A stretch top can fit nicely sometimes across 3 sizes making them a great budget saver.
- Long sleeve t-shirts with no band necklines are inexpensive yet nice enough to wear to work any day of the week. Add a scarf, pretty necklace or vest to dress it up.
3. Belts Yes, look forward to the time when tucking in your shirt and belting the bottom is a look-good option. Once you've left the women's sizes, you should be wearing belts every now and again.
For your down'sizing' look for a belt where you make the holes. I have a belt with a loose weave of leather, no holes (3rd one from the top in the photo). I just stick the prong of the buckle wherever it fits. I bought it at size 16 and still wear it. I love that it's beginning to wrap around my side on its way to my back.
Other belts can work just as well, like the tie belt at the top of the photo. There are belts with holes across its entire span (belt 2 and 3 from the top). The last belt is metal but backed with stretchy fabric. When stretched to its entire length the metal circles are barely touching. All great belts to down'size' with.
4. Vests Buy a vest to wear unbuttoned then as you lose weight, button it. Vests can hide blouses that are a little too large. Great budget saver.
5. Jackets Try the vest strategy of buying small and wearing unbuttoned then buttoning it as the size goes down. Numberwise, buy only what you absolutely need in basic colors (read: black or brown). Don't get me wrong, jackets are fantastic additions to the down'sizing' wardrobe, but they can be budget busters.
Fitted vs Boxed Fitted jackets are going to start looking great on you, but remember fitted jackets are usually designed for a certain look. The outfit won't look so great when you try to pair a fitted jacket outside its genre. Buy fitted when you can think of a couple of outfits you can make with it. Fitted jackets are so tempting. Just make the jacket work for you in several ways.
6. Winter clothes I work inside, all day. So my down'sizing' strategy is to not to immediately down'size' ill fitting coats and sweaters that I just take off once I'm inside the door.
My strategy changes for my cold weekends when I go hiking with the Appalachian Mountain Club. I don't want to look frumpy with my buds, so my hiking clothes fit quite nicely thank you but inside my thermal underwear is quite loose (heh, large sizes are still effectively warm).
I'm heading up to NYC in December. I walk a lot in NYC so I bought a new coat. Down'sizing' your wardrobe doesn't mean you do without when you need it. We've worked hard to get our shapes, there are times when you need to show it.
Here's what I buy for my woolies and fleecies:
- Think smooth - no large 'cables' (as in cable-knit) running down your sweaters and no puffy jackets (the latest style, but so frosty the snowman looking).
- The great thing about sweaters is they're a lot like stretch fabrics. They have to be really big to look too big on you. Make your existing sweater wardrobe last as long as possible.
- Looking for warmth? Fleece is it at bargain prices. Target has a huge assortment of fleece jackets and sweaters in a variety of colors only $15 each.
Other posts in this series
Down'sizing' introduction
Part 1 - the plan
Part 2 - getting the most out of each size..
Part 3, focus
No comments:
Post a Comment