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The Great Skirt Conundrum

Wednesday 14 May 2014



My crappy attempts at dressmaking have recently seen me move into tops. Should be easier than making a proper dress, right? Wrong. The current work-in-progress has been on the go for about three weeks and is causing me no end of grief. Getting it finished may well be the death of me and even when it is done, I then have the problem of what to wear it with.

The current wardrobe situation is as follows:

  • I own one pair of respectable jeans and one pair of dungarees. That's it in the trousers department.
  • I have quite a lot of shorts but haven't been wearing them recently as I don't feel that comfy in them any more.
  • Skirts? I have a few but really not that many. The time is definitely here for the collection to be expanded.

My constant problem is my dratted stomach. I am very conscious of it. Even at my slimmest it was still an issue. It won't go away, so I have to do my best to hide it. This is why skirts are so awkward - they seem to cling in all the wrong places.  Mind you, trousers do similar, which is probably why I hardly have any of them either.  There's more choice with skirt styles though so I live in hope that I'll discover the magic one that really suits me.

I've been mooching on the George site this week, particularly their skirts section, and there are some really pretty things tempting me.

Should you even be attempting to wear pencil skirts when you have an awful stomach? I'm inclined to think not: I certainly haven't found one that makes me looks non-hideous. Doesn't stop me wanting the heck out of this floral beauty though!




Speaking of fab florals, HELLO! This is only five quid in the sale. I might be able to make it work on me.




I'm more likely to end up with something like this though, although more likely in black than pink.  The few skirts I do have (and like) tend to be more on the A-line side of things.




Or perhaps I play it safe and stick with the trusty skater skirt... I've seen this one in store and it's plain but really rather cute.



So then, skirt gurus of the blogging world. Am I missing something obvious in terms of styles that might suit me? Can I ever wear that pencil skirt?

*[]*

8 comments:

  1. I am always really self conscious of my stomach and the dress I am wearing today highlights it but I like the dress so much that I thought, screw it, I'm going to wear it anyway! I have found some heels and a big smile go a long way in distracting people ;)

    Maria xxx

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  2. I think you just have to learn to love your stomach. It's so much healthier to stop hating your own body. I know it's not always easy -- I'm self-conscious of my sticky-out tum and my swayback which makes my bum stick out as well, but they're never going away so I'm learning to accept that they're just me. I recommend reading a lot of fatshionista blogs, they've helped me develop a more positive body image about *everybody*, not just fatties.

    And for what it's worth, I think you can *totally* rock that blue skirt. It would look great on you and I bet you already have a pair of shoes to match it!

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  3. Go for it! I struggle with my stomach and even if I lost 4 stone and exercised there would be excess skin, it's kind of why I stopped losing weight because it was better for me to be bigger and fill it out. Bit gross. I think you just have to give it a go, if you wear it a few times and don't feel comfortable then stick it on ebay xx

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  4. Oh gosh, I hate my body so much that I'm scared of pencil skirts at the moment. I'm all hips and bum bum bum :(
    I like the mini skirt and those organza panel skirts are pretty, saw the coral one on IG.

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  5. As long as it's cheerful looking, comfy and allows you to step off a train without having to do a long jump, go for it! You could spend more time battling the stomach or you could have more reading time. I know what kind i prefer :) fab blog btw

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  6. Go for it, pencil skirts are super flattering and these ones are gorgeous. I wear mine with either a plain blouse (if patterned) or patterned blouse if plain. I sometimes wear a plain black tshirt over the top, which just skims by my stomach and looks great. Or I'll wear a slightly floaty blouse, again floats over my stomach. The A line skirt is so flattering too, wear with a tucked in tshirt or if you wear it high waisted wear with a crop top (which fits over the waistband). Have fun, look forward to seeing what you get.x

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  7. I really don't like pencil skirts (they look dreadful on me and feel uncomfortable) so I wont be recommending them to you, but I think skater skirts are really flattering x

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  8. Aaaah now you see I think pencil skirts get a rough ride you know. People are scared of them because they look like they're clingy but you actually fall into that trap of "Oh I want to hide myself so I'll wrap myself in something voluminous" hence making yourself look 10,000 times bigger than you actually are.

    Yes. Unless you have washboard abs there may always be a slight bit of tummy but I actually think that pencil skirts are always much much much more flattering on people than skater and A-line skirts. I don't get the skater skirt thing at all personally.

    I see I'm a lone voice in the comment thread so far but BIG UP THE PENCIL SKIRT

    (Hilariously I'm not wearing my favourite one at the moment because I slipped and ripped the already straining back seam right up to basically the base of the zip. Luckily I had a coat and only live across the road from work ey?!)

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