What to Wear: Say Yes to the Dress

The weight of social occasions is especially heavy when you are plus sized. On the one hand, there is the whole anxiety of knowing more than likely you are going to be the heaviest one in the room. Then on the other hand, there is all the stress involved with picking out what to wear when you have limited options. All this negativity can get pretty overwhelming - that is if you let it.

I had a wedding to attend this Friday and as we all know there is nothing like that bit of extra pressure of seeing people that last saw you when you were 8 to send you off the deep end! How did I stave off the jitters associated with such an occasions? Planning. I sat down and planned every element of my outfit from hair, nails, dress, shoes, bag, and undergarments. Over the years, I have amassed some pretty lovely pieces so that I could avoid the whole dilemma of what am I going to wear.

Granted, not many people are like me and find it necessary to have several party frocks in their closets. Purchasing one is a great way to ensure that you always have a great go to outfit that makes you feel amazing. Nothing makes a woman more beautiful than confidence after all!

Why I bring this whole point up is that I have been reticent to do outfit posts of myself. There is nothing like looking at yourself from a wrong angle, but sharing it with the world is a whole other can of worms. The fact is I chose to do it now to show how the power of planning can really diminish any qualms when it comes to body confidence.

1. Dress: I bought this orange dress years ago and it has never let me down. Fit wise its fantastic as it lets me shine in all right places, and color wise it never results in me meeting a color doppelganger.
2. Shoes: These are a pair of Ferragamo kitten heels that I bought ages ago for $99. Honestly, one of the best investments I ever made fashion wise as they will never go out of style and are extremely comfortable.
3. Bag: My little LV always steals the show. I had a larger one in rainbow, which I gave away years ago as it never meshed with my style. It was just a bit too ostentatious and overexposed for my tastes. I have no idea why I ever bothered to purchase it in the first place, but when I saw this item on net-a-porter I knew it had to be mine. Just enough flash to be noticed, but functional enough for everyday use.
4. Makeup: I had to purchase some Shu Uemura products to replenish my makeup stock, so I got my makeup done at their kiosk in Bloomigdales. It was honestly the best decision I ever made, because it was one less thing I had to worry about and I got something out of the deal. I never pay just to get my makeup done ever, because honestly it seems like a waste of money. Just find out what the price of the qualifying purchase necessary, check what you need in your makeup bag, and make an appointment. Honestly, it is the best deal ever. Oh and why yes I am wearing the lipstick from my previous post!
5. Nails: I like to be daring with nails as mine are really short. The blue contrasts nicely with the dress and keeps the whole outfit from being overly formal. It is an OPI shade, but the name escapes me as I got it done at salon.
6. Jewelry: I try to keep everything above the neck classic. These pearl studs are from Tiffany - a gift from my husband many moons ago. The heart shaped ruby necklace from Versani was in fact another gift from my husband. Oh and the blue topaz ring from Little Kings? Also, a gift from my husband. Jeez, I think I really need to go out and buy some pieces for myself. Otherwise, if he dies horrifically in a car crash or we have a nasty divorce - I'm going to have a box full of bad memories.
7. Hair: I got my hair done for the occasion at Blow, because I had absolutely no time to try and tame the beast. Plus, your hair sets the tone for your outfit and overall confidence level. If it looks like hell - you feel like hell. Thanks to the extreme hack job performed on my hair recently, it was a challenge but the stylist was able to make it look amazing.The only thing I regret is forgetting my undergarments at home. The tell tale bump in my tummy is ever-present in the pictures and I could have positioned myself better, but you know what I will remember years from now in lieu of that? What a great time I had and how gorgeous I felt!

Bounce Back from a Bad Cut

As I wrote earlier this week, I got a horrendous hair cut that seriously put me in a tail spin. I know a lot of people would not think it a bad haircut worth getting into a tizz about, but trust me if you saw it you would understand. The worst part, I feel about the horrendous cut, is the betrayal.

I mean if you are like me: you do your research on a site like yelp, do a drive by preview of the salon, and then spend time deciding how to describe what you want. Exhausting yes, but I and like many of you out there take my hair maintenance perhaps a bit too seriously. Then again, how many mistakes besides the odd tattoo that can not be covered do you have to show to the world on a daily basis?

So, having done all that I decide to take the plunge at a highly rated salon with only a few bad reviews. I figured "I have done my due diligence there is no way this can go wrong", but I made a fatal mistake. I overlooked the fact that fthe only thing more common in NYC than out of work crappy actors are unskilled "hairstylists". Seriously, it is like the street is littered with them!

Flash forward to the day of my appointment: I leave the salon knowing I paid $90.00 to look like "someone had a seizure cutting your hair and did not bother to finish" as a dear friend put it. As you can imagine, I was sincerely pissed off as the salon owner/stylist complemented me on the cut! I should have known that when I left it was a dud when I stared into the mirror and looked confused. Sometimes, cuts take time to settle with you - I pleaded with myself. A couple of days later, however, I could no longer keep the delusion going. It became clear that this was not an issue of taste but rather an inept hairdresser hacking away at my mane.

The reason I bring all of this up is that we have all had this happen to us, but rarely anyone talks about how to fix it. Well, fret no more as I have some suggestions on just how to do that!

1. Call the salon: This is mostly for the brave of heart who believe that maybe it was just a miscommunication that caused the mistake. I, personally, have never done this as I am the type of person who gives second chances. Some, however, swear if you invest that much in your hair you should for the price tag alone. Others think its best to give a stylist a second chance as they now know what does not work for you.

2. Dye your hair: Sometimes, a color and a cut just do not mesh well at all. In my situation, a dye job helped salvaged the situation. I went from light to dark and presto chango it became less hideous. One important thing to note is that when you can - USE PROFESSIONAL PRODUCTS. It is very easy and inexpensive to do this at home, and the results are normally x10 better than store brands. Just make sure you know what you are doing!

3. Deep Condition: My hair sees a lot of action from blow dryers, flat irons, curling irons, hairbands/ties, and dye jobs. The cut, unfortunately, highlighted the current state of distress of my hair. After dying it to combat the horrendous haircut, I deep conditioned it every week and now its glorificus luster is back.

4. Change styling products/methods: I had to learn a whole new way to style my hair to deal with the change. I went to Ricky's and Bloomingdales to scope out new products and tried them on my hair. Then I found two hours to sit down and try different styles. Time consuming I know, but if I was going to walk around with this mop it was going to have to look somewhat decent. I learned a lot in that span of two hours, and trust me I thank god every morning now that I took the time to do it.

Do you have any horror stories out there that you would like to share? Drop them in the comments!