These were the words of a lady chatting to me before one of my workplace presentations and I completely understood, I have been there, however I also wanted to ignite some change because I knew first-hand the positive difference it can make.
Post-Covid and a few years into my menopause and I felt just like the lady quoted above. I was lost when it came to my body shape, colour preferences and style. I no longer knew what to wear, so I was working in leggings with chunky dark cardigans and feeling that if I added a necklace I was ok for a Zoom meeting!
If you follow my work you will know that I can now recognise when I am feeling lost and have the empowerment to do something about it. So I did.
An hour with a personal stylist and I have never looked back. I have also never worn the leggings and chunky dark cardigan again!
Understanding our body shape, what colours suit us and having the ability to look at our current wardrobe with a new vision, can make us feel like a new version of ourselves.
It was a pleasure to work with Alice personally and to now collaborate with her to support my clients is so gratifying. Here is what Alice has to say:
As women we go through many stages of our lives and we expect our wardrobe and style to come along merrily beside us making us feel good at each one.
The menopause is a stage which I feel is one of the biggest in terms of how it can potentially affect us and more importantly our confidence.
Oprah Winfrey said ‘I’ve discovered (menopause) is your moment to reinvent yourself after years of focusing on the needs of everyone else.‘
Quite often by the time we reach the menopause we are in the throes of prioritising everyone else around us, kids, parents, work colleagues and partners, the list can go on.
I have to agree with Oprah here; that this is the perfect opportunity to change the status quo, start prioritising ourselves and do things to make ourselves feel good.
Exploring and re-defining your style and wardrobe is one of those things, as by doing this you can:
- Boost your mood
- Elevate your look
- Re-ignite self-confidence
- Facilitate self-expression
One of the first and in my mind most important steps in this process is understanding and embracing your body shape.
When we do prioritise others before ourselves in our lives what tends to happen is we neglect our diet and self-care routines, which over time can have a negative impact on our bodies and self-confidence around them. Coupled with the menopause deciding to have its fun with our bodies too, means we end up avoiding what is happening, wearing baggy oversized clothing to cover up or relying on old favourites of jeans or leggings which are comfortable but not necessary making us feel all that good about our reflection.
Which is why in the spirit of Oprah I believe we all need to stand in front of the mirror and own our bodies and their lumps, bumps, scars and curves so we can reinvent it and re discover that self-confidence.
This may sound pretty horrific but believe me when I say it will be incredibly empowering when you understand your shape and start styling to enhance rather than hide it.
So smile at yourself.
Look at where your weight sits.
Are your shoulders wider than your hips or are they in line?
Does your torso look longer in proportion to your legs?
Think about taking down some basic measurements. Do not be afraid of the tape measure, it is your friend. It is there as a tool to help you understand your bodies curves and contours.
The reason it is so key to seeing your shape is because once you see where your proportions are you can use tricks to bring balance, do some illusion dressing to hide the parts you don’t like and enhance the parts you do.
An example of this is wide legged trousers. Perfect for balancing broad shoulders or hiding and slimming tummies and hips.
V-Necks or scoop necks tops are the most flattering shape for actually minimising busts, elongating necks, softening strong shoulders or breaking up a solid silhouette.
All these little tricks are perfect for helping you feel more accepting of your body shape when looking at the mirror which in turns brings a smile, a building confidence and a spring in your step.
