One of my dear friends from high school sent me a DM on Instagram. With her permission, I’m sharing our conversation in the hope it gives you some inspo if you’re moving through sizes yourself or just generally feel a bit stuck.
We haven’t seen each other in the flesh... possibly this millennium. So in my mind, she is still a fresh-faced gal who’s just had her braces off, ready to start her adult life in the big wide world.
Bec: I’m interested in the idea of an ever-changing wardrobe. I’m on a “weight loss” journey (that term makes me want to throw myself into the ocean) and I don’t want to have to buy new or even second-hand clothes every other week. Thoughts on how people deal with this? At the moment I wear a lot of smock dresses that have a tie at the waist so I can give myself a figure.
SVED: Yeah, so many of my clients are in flux with hormones (postpartum or menopause) or rapid weight loss with GLP-1 medications.
It’s interesting to me when people book me in the “middle”. There’s no one-size-fits-all advice either, because there are so many variables in the actual wardrobe.
What I see is that there’s often a desire to fix the entire wardrobe in one go. We don’t really “need” that many clothes at all, but many people want lots of clothes and options. Especially when changing size or shape feels positive, it’s exciting to dress your changing body.
My tips!
If you have pieces you love, get them altered along with you. Possibly annoying, but if you’ve invested in pieces, this is gold.
Without seeing you or your wardrobe, I’d be looking at what we can do with your existing pieces. Tucking or tying shirts differently.
If you don’t want to buy stuff, it’s altering, styling, DIY pinning and quick hacks. No joke, I’ve had someone using a bulldog clip until they were willing to donate or alter an item.
My final piece is “acceptance”. If you’re not going to buy stuff, it’s accepting that you’re working with what you have. SO, figure out what you do have.
Remove things that DO NOT FIT / DO NOT LIKE / CANNOT DIY HACK / WILL NOT ALTER, etc.
Bec: Very interesting! The bulldog clip is totally wild! Altering is a very good idea and I totally agree with you that we don’t need heaps of clothes.
SVED: Yeah. Obviously a bulldog clip is not for all occasions 😂
Bec: I try to keep my wardrobe very minimal so that I don’t feel overwhelmed with what I have.
SVED: You’ve always been good at this stuff!
Bec: I think the issue is that I’ve lost weight very slowly over two years and it’s only become a wardrobe issue in the last couple of months!
SVED: I think one of the fascinating things is the fast fashion / quality / disposable nature of clothes today compared to 50-ish years ago. We don’t value our items in the same way when we buy, care for or remove pieces.
If you’d laboured over making a dress or buying a dress and had lost weight, we would view the piece differently. But it’s so, so easy to just get a new thing. EVEN if we have spent a lot of money on something and the piece is good quality. We don’t always have the same emotional investment. It’s so easy to replace.
Bec: Yes, you’re right. And with online shopping making things so easy because I don’t have to leave the house!
SVED: Totally! And in that time YOU have changed. Style and trends have changed. Your life has changed.
So many women our age all of a sudden are like... omg... I don’t know how to dress myself. I don’t know what I like.
I don’t know about you, but we used to buy things incrementally. Pop into a shop after work here and there. Go out on a Saturday and see something we liked and just buy it.
When you have kids, you lose the incidental and incremental shopping. And the problem appears lonnnnng after the problem started. Compound effect of not following your “usual” way of doing things.
Bec: Yeah, I feel that. Often describe my style as “44-year-old toddler”. I like to dress brightly but I’m unsure if it’s age appropriate. This is all hitting!
SVED: And if your style is 44-year-old toddler and you love it, great, keep doing what you’re doing. And if you don’t, the conversation becomes: what do you want instead?
Working out what you want next is often the trickiest bit. In my sessions, we spend time figuring out what you want for your next chapter before even touching your clothes. Once the direction is set, the rest gets much easier.
There are clues in your wardrobe already. Notice what you DO like wearing most and why.
If you’d like help working out what comes next, book a free discovery call with Anna at SVED.