Styling For Your Postpartum Changes
For many women, there comes a time when the wonders of giving birth occur. The journey is long and tiresome, to say the least, but rewarding nonetheless. However, after this “journey” is said and done, you have to go home and face a new you with a new body you don’t know. It’s hard to come to terms with your new shape after giving birth. Things aren’t as tight as they used to be, the girls don’t sit quite as high, and your stomach is just not the same. The blogs and baby books assure you this is all normal and part of the joys of bringing a new life into this world. But no one tells you what to do with this new body nor how to dress it.
The first thing you have to do is assess how your body truly looks now, instead of comparing it to what it used to look like before. If you don’t currently have your pre-baby body, then why are you fixated on looking like you do? This mindset is not helpful. When things change, our perspectives must shift with them. This means knowing where on your body you need some extra support and understanding your clothes are the things that need to give you the shape you’re looking for rather than relying on your body to do it for you. This is not to say you should ignore any goals you might have to get that body back. It simply means that in the meantime, you should learn to love what you’re working with and dress it the best way you can.
Dressing for this new body is cool but you might be wondering how you’re going to afford a whole new closet post-baby. The good news is for most people you only need to make a few incremental changes to your wardrobe. If your jeans don’t fit anymore, you will need to invest in a new pair, but pants with a stretchy waistband or drawstring can usually still be worn a month or two later. And instead of shapeless bodycon dresses, you’ll want to implement garments that have a distinct shape to them when held up on a hanger. Avoid dresses that look straight up and down and have no structure because they won’t help enhance what’s underneath. These things and more can help the transition from the three weeks after giving birth to the pounds you dropped a year or two later. However, if you find you don’t lose weight and seem to keep gaining more, that is totally okay. The same steps still apply. Love the body you’re in and assess the best way to dress it so you can look good and feel good moving forward.
Learning takes time, and figuring out what looks good and what doesn’t look good will take some trial and error if you’re doing it on your own. A personal stylist can help save you time and energy by figuring out what your body type is and the appropriate way to dress it. We know it can be frustrating to look in the mirror and not see the person you know. But our job is to make sure no matter what the occasion is, you always feel like your best self in the clothes you wear. We’re not here to dress the pre-baby body you. We are here to dress who you are and what you look like right now. And remember, you didn’t purchase all the clothes you have in your closet all at once. You did it over the course of years. Be kind to yourself and slowly allow yourself the time to build a wardrobe that reflects the newest, most elevated version of yourself.