How to Feel More Confident in Your Clothes
For decades, women have grown up under the shadow of the skinny ideal. It was at its peak in the 1990s but as far back as the 1960s, thin bodies were extremely coveted with Twiggy an icon of the era. Today we are lucky to have the body positivity and body confidence movements on social media but fatphobia is still rife and many women still spend too much on diets, punishing their bodies to try to get them to look a certain way.
Has it ever occurred to you that, if diets actually worked, you'd only ever have been on one in your life? In my opinion, feeling confident in your skin is more about mindset than how you actually look and there are many clothing tricks you can use to help yourself feel better in your body.
Being physically comfortable goes a long way towards feeling mentally comfortable about how you look. For years I have said that I can't not wear a bra but actually, I can! No one ever notices or if they do, they don't say anything. Lately I've been wearing halterneck dresses in a-line styles because they are smaller on my top half, supporting my bust, and big enough to cover my wider bottom half.
If you feel that you HAVE to wear bras or HAVE to wear tights to look good, just try without and see how you get on. You'll probably forget once you're enjoying yourself, and remember, nobody notices your perceived flaws anywhere near as much as you do.
Working out which outfits you love on your body and finding new variations of these in different colours ensures you always feel great about how you look. Personally I love to tuck tops into high-waisted pencil skirts in midi lengths, or pair these with crop tops. It is a look that works well on my figure and accentuates the parts of my body I do like.
Playing with accessories and reminding yourself how fun fashion can be is a great way to feel better too! If you enjoy putting the outfit together and feel proud of it, you will feel more confident wearing it out and about.
Instagram is an excellent resource for outfit inspiration but it's known to often cause feelings of comparison and self-doubt. Try decluttering your feed of anyone who makes you feel bad about your body and seek out content creators who look more like you. I love following Noorie Ana, who doesn't look much like me really but she does have 'thicc' thighs like me! Seeing how Noorie shows off her legs without having supermodel pins makes me feel more confident about my own body and encourages me to get my legs out more in summer.
This Pretty Lavish top is also part of Noorie's edit!
It's useful to know the classic 'rules' for dressing according to your body type but personally the most useful piece of styling advice I've heard lately is to just wear clothes you like without worrying about how they look on you. It sounds so simple but it's made a big difference to my mindset and I now wear silhouettes that I love even if I know Gok Wan or Trinny and Susannah wouldn't approve! (Who else loved those makeover shows, even if some were a bit toxic?!)
I know these white lacy tights from Natori don't really suit me but I love them anyway and at the end of the day people will always compliment the items they like rather than specifically how they look on you. I always get so many more compliments on clothes and accessories that happen to be on trend than I do when I've really thought about flattering my figure!
The author may collect a small share of sales from the links on this page.
Comments
Join the conversation
I think those tights absolutely suit you!