Gratefulness Part II

Alright Southern Creative readers, it's time for some audience participation. I want to know what you are grateful for in regards to your body and fashion. It's so easy to get caught up in insecurity, so I want to help us all dwell on what we love about our lives and our bodies even if it really is what we're insecure about. Maybe we can minimize our insecurities just a little bit.

So do this for me. Please? Either post in the comments here on this post or e-mail me at southerncreativeca@gmail.com and give me your list! I don't care how long or short it is, just go for it! Speak from your heart and tell me how you feel (or how you want to feel!).

I've asked for some audience participation before and the turn out has been a little sad most of the time, so please, please, please, take a few minutes and do this little favor for me. If you humor me in this way I promise i'll go back to posting about clothes. Thanks friends!

I Choose to Be Grateful... Especially for Betsy Johnson.

In all areas of life it is absolutely vital to remind yourself that you have some pretty incredible things to be grateful for. I particularly struggle with remembering to be intentionally grateful. Especially when it comes to certain things you just can't change about yourself. You might think it's weird that I'm writing a list of things on here that I'm grateful for related to fashion and body image, but I am. So deal with it and be grateful.

 I kid. Sort of.

I am grateful for:

1). Great shoes
2). A fiance who encourages me to wear high heels even though I'm already 3 inches taller than him. He's a stud.
3). The ability to cut the side seam of my shorts and add lace so that my substantial thighs don't get squeezed like sausages since almost all shorts are made for girls with thighs the size of my arm.
4). The ability to brighten my day just by putting on a really cute outfit.
5). The fact that I have all four of my limbs even if I wish two of them were half the size that they are.
6). The ability to work out so I can eat Chipotle and still fit in the clothes I love.
7). The ability to buy a size bigger when I eat Chipotle and don't work out like I promise myself I will.
8). Spanx.
9). Pencil Skirts
10). Spanx. Again.
11). That my friends and family don't judge me when I wear a t-shirt and jeans and don't do my hair or make-up.
12). The ability to feel feminine.
13). Being able to express my creativity in other areas since I can only draw stick figures.
14). An in home washer and dryer since I change my clothes 2-3 times a day.
15). The existence of color.
16). The wonderful things that black does for you in hiding things you want to hide.
17). That my fiance, friends, and family think I'm beautiful even when I don't hide what I want hidden.
18). A job that gives me the funds to express my creativity through the clothing I wear and through this blog.
19). A boss that also loves clothes.
20). Sisters who let me borrow their clothes. Even when they don't know I'm borrowing them.
21). Betsy Johnson being born and gracing the world with her absolutely insane style.

What are you grateful for?

It's What's Underneath That Counts

Have you ever wondered how Christina Hendrix looks so stinkin' amazing in those tight shift dresses and pencil skirts in Mad Men? Have you ever wished you could smooth out all your lumps and bumps and pretend like your body was just made that way? Do you hate how your underwear creates lines and extra junk you don't remember having when you wear tight clothes? Well, let me tell you something. It's called Spanx. These are miracle workers. They do wonderful things that you could never imagine possible, they smooth and tighten and make you look and feel fit and firm even if you have done nothing but eat cheeseburgers this week.

The other great thing about Spanx (or Assets if you don't want to pay the money for Spanx) is that they come in all kinds of styles for whatever you need. You can buy long shorts, boy shorts, skirt slips, dress slips, body suits, spanx attached to nylons or leggings, and even special prego-lady spanx that have an extra panel in the tummy that expands with your baby.

Let me show you:

This body suit is great if you are wearing a dress with sleeves or at least tank sleeves. This body suit gives the freedom of wearing slacks, skirts, or dresses and it allows you to wear the right bra for you not one that is built in to the Spanx. I know most of you are thinking that those shorts are going to make your thigh fat pudge out but they won't if they aren't too tight. Take it from a girl who has substantial thighs, these long shorts do wonderful things (if they fit right!). This body suit also helps to smooth back fat and gives you a great hour glass shape. 

These high waisted long shorts are awesome too. I actually own some like this and I love them. I don't like the shorts that come just to the true waist for me because they tend to roll down and cause problems, but they work great for some people. Obviously you can't wear a low back dress or shirt with these. These work for slacks, skirts, and dresses as well. If you are wearing a shorter dress or even shorts you can buy Spanx just like this but with either a normal underwear cut or a boy short cut so they don't show but they still give you the tummy control that is so great about Spanx. 

Say hello to one of your greatest assets. A strapless Spanx dress slip is a must have in all women's closets. They smooth and contour but you can still wear a strapless dress. Once again just make sure it isn't too tight or it will ride up and end up around your waist which isn't very helpful and definitely not very comfortable. I own one like this too and wear it all the time. Am I giving away to much about my undergarments? Oh well... moving on! Once again, if there is even a chance of this showing under your dress when you sit down opt for a strapless boy short option or a boy short option of the style above this. 

Foundational garments are not what they used to be. They don't have boning and they don't dig into your skin (if they do they are too tight!), so don't be afraid of them! Embrace the incredible things they can do for your body and enjoy the "wow you look great!" comments you will get. If you don't believe me, try it for yourself. You can get almost all of these styles by Assets at Target and you can also find a lot of them at places like TJ Maxx or Marshalls. Of course you can order directly from Spanx or Assets and they are also at Nordstrom and department stores like that if you want to go all out. 

Ok, enough about underwear. 

How To: Accessorize a Maxi Dress Like A Pro Part I

Ta-dah! The photo shoot I promised is finally ready to show you all. The pictures came out beautifully thanks to the wonderful photography of our favorite guest writer Chris Stetson and the editing genius of my fiancé Michael. Also, the models are pretty darn good looking too. Oh, and one more little teaser... Eventually we will have behind the scenes video and photos just to give you a little glimpse into what happens in between the photos. I will tell you that we laugh. A lot.

We got so many great shots this post will have to be a two-parter. I asked my friend Erin to come and help me out modeling since we are totally different body types. I thought it would be helpful to have two different body types so anyone who reads can hopefully relate to something in one (or both) of us.

Erin is wearing a really simple straight blue maxi dress that has just a little detail at the bottom. This is a great dress to have because you can almost pair it with anything. I have a really simple tank style black maxi dress that I can't find, but I love it. For our first looks we wanted to show you how you can dress up a simple maxi dress for a nice lunch with friends or even a bridal shower or something. Accessories are key to dressing up something so simple! For Erin we paired her blue dress with this simple yellow sweater, red clutch, and simple but colorful jewelry. Notice that nothing is super matchy-matchy but it all coordinates. Play with color when you have a simple canvas like this dress. Erin's super cute red sandal clogs are straight from Sweden. It's amazing how red shoes like this can go with almost anything. I'm pretty sure she sleeps in them based on how often I see her wear them! 

I decided to experiment with my dress a little. The actual dress has spaghetti straps and basically no detail (it doesn't need it because of it's cut and design), but I thought it would be fun to turn it into more of a maxi skirt look by wearing a thin t-shirt (which I tied in a little knot and hid under the belt) and cinching it with a wide belt. Please ignore the fact that my beaded cuff bracelet is falling apart and focus on the fact that it's cute. I kept my accessories unique but simple. My bracelet and my necklace are wood beads and my bag is just a simple silver clutch that has a little bit of design on it. Carrying a clutch instead of an oversized bag helps to make something a little bit more formal.

Isn't she pretty? This is just a closer shot of her coral bead necklace and multi-colored bead bracelet. If you are more apple shaped like Erin (she has skinny awesome legs all the time... It's sick), wearing a cropped sweater like this helps to create a waist. Also, her empire waist dress helps to flow over anything she might want to hide. Don't button up your sweater if you are apple shaped. 

Here's where I show you an up close and personal shot of how poorly I hid the knot. If you are built more like me, use belts to accentuate what is most likely on of your smallest body parts... your natural waist. Thick belts are great for turning things into things they are not naturally. They turn a shirt over a dress into an awesome whole new outfit, and they can turn a relatively straight body into a curvy one. Yay belts! 

Here's just a little creative close up shot of my necklace and belt. Cool right?

This is more of a casual look with the same dress. We removed her sweater for a more summery look and added this great leopard print scarf, the straw fedora, cuff bracelet, and nude oxfords. This is simple with style. It took us two seconds to put this outfit together just pulling accessories out of the bag Erin brought with her so don't be intimidated! Her scarf is tied by just looping it around your neck so the ends face behind you and then come around. Tuck them in a little to the scarf so they don't fly about. 

Aren't those cute?! You definitely want to make sure your dress isn't super long if you are going to wear shoes like these. You want them to show!

For my more casual but covered up look I paired my super long flowy maxi dress with a simple denim jacket. Also, my accessories are exactly the same as the last outfit. See how many outfits simple wood bead jewelry can go with? Also, like I've said before, you can't go wrong with oversized sunglasses. These are from Target. 

I thought it would be fun to pair my dress and denim jacket with super classic white Keds. The secret is, I bought these at Target for 10 bucks. So really I paired my dress with Ked-like sneakers. Yep, that's how I roll. That gold ring I'm wearing is my sisters. I love it. It's so simple and just a gold circle. 

So there you go, you have two different looks that you can use to style your Maxi dresses. These dresses have so much versatility. The one I am wearing is slightly less versatile than Erin's, but it's always good to have both. Go for a dress with a bold print that you can dress up or dress down and keep your accessories simple. It's also great to have a really simple dress like Erin's so you can really have fun with your accessories and add more prints and colors. 

There are so many more great pictures and one more whole outfit to show y'all so part 2 will be coming later this week. I hope this inspires you and gives you ideas on how to look great with minimal effort. Have a great start to your week and check back in sometime this week for the second half of the photo shoot!

What I've Learned About Fashion, Body Image, and Wanting What We Don't Have

Do you love everything about your body? My guess is no. I don't think I've met a single woman who doesn't wish something was different about their body. Too tall, too short, too round, too skinny, too many curves, not enough curves, big arms, chicken arms, big thighs, thighs the size of a normal persons arm... the list goes on and on. This topic has been on my mind because I have never liked being tall. I am 5'9" and always wanted to be 5'6". I love heels, but I don't love being 6 feet tall when I wear them. I have gone back and forth my whole life about whether I am just going to rock being tall and not worry about it or if I'm going to try and mask it. Honestly, I think it changes every day. I know a lot of people out there would kill to be tall, and that just further proves my point that we always want what we don't have.

So, since I can't do anything about my height or my body type or the fact that 4 inch heels seem to have a gravitational pull on them, I guess I'll suck it up and work on the mental game behind it all. It's amazing that we can so quickly forget the beauty in being unique and diverse. It's so easy to look around and compare what we don't like about ourselves (or what we do like) to those around us. Strangers or friends, it doesn't matter. We still compare. I have been actively trying to catch each thought that goes through my head about wishing I was something other than I am. It isn't healthy and there is nothing we can do about it. If you have hips, guess what... they won't go anywhere no matter how much weight you lose, and they will probably look a lot better if you don't get to skinny. Your body is your body no matter what, the physical shape of your skeleton is not going to change and it's about time we stopped wanting it to.

The great thing about fashion is that you get to choose what parts of your body you love and want to show off and what parts you aren't too thrilled about and want to camouflage. Clothes are meant to give us confidence and give us an outlet to express who we are. If bright colors make you happy, than wear them. I don't care if someone told you that you are an "autumn" or a "winter". Ignore them. If you are tall, rock the maxi skirts and dresses with flats or wedges or whatever you love and pretend you are a super model. If you are short, wear clothes that make you appear longer and the fun part about your body type is you can wear whatever height heel you want and no one will even think twice about the fact that they can suddenly look straight in your eyes.

Country singer Miranda Lambert was just on the cover of SELF with extremely minimal photo editing (you can see it here: https://www.facebook.com/mirandalambert). She had little roles on her stomach and her thighs and butt look like a normal persons. Her headline was all about toning up and embracing your curves. I love this idea. Be fit and healthy and embrace your natural body type. Miranda has always been interesting to me. She is a tiny human being, but she is not a skinny tiny human being. Her weight goes up and down like everyone else's, but unfortunately for her she still has to be in the public eye no matter how she looks. I love that Miranda's cover photo made people feel like they could relate to her instead of see another unrealistically skinny actress or model who looks like that because they 1). Are photoshopped, 2). They only eat 1000 calories a day, and 3). They are paid to look like that. Hollywood cannot be our standard of what we should look like. We've got to let that go.

My guess is that this process of embracing your body type is a lifelong process. It is a daily mental game where you have to believe that you are unique and beautiful and made the way you are for a reason. Choose to focus on what is awesome about your body and learn to love what isn't so awesome. Believe me, I'm talking to myself just as much as I am to all of you. Insecurity is a universal struggle, and I think it's time we give it a little less victory in our lives.

Teaser Alert!

We've got another photo shoot coming on Monday to show you all how to accessorize your new Maxi dresses you just bought. Teaser: There will be two people in the shoot this time! A friend of mine is helping me out so we can demonstrate different body types as well. Check back in on Monday night (or maybe Tuesday morning...)!!

Maxi Dresses In All Their Glory

Sometimes I sit around and think about things that most people don't. Like maxi dresses. I love them, but honestly they have to be the absolute perfect length. They can be absolutely slimming and elongating or they can make you look like you are a short, frumpy, square of a person. Now, show of hands. Who wants the first one?

If you are short, watch your dress length! If you let the dress go below the top of your foot you will look like someone shrunk you in your clothes. If your clothes look too big they are not slimming. If you are short and your body is more of an apple shape choose a maxi dress that has a defined empire waist. If you are more of a pear shape maxi dresses are your best friend, although you probably want to stick with defined waists too. If you are more of a straight build than you can wear any style really. A defined waist whether it's true waist, hip, or empire waist will look awesome on you.

The key to looking amazing and glamorous instead of dumpy and frumpy in your maxi dress is to make sure it accentuates your best features and camouflages what you want camouflaged. If you've got great shoulders and fit arms than show them off! Choose a maxi dress that is either strapless, halter, or spaghetti strap. If you are well endowed, than be careful. Strapless is going to make you look saggy, a straight across neckline will give you the dreaded uni-boob, and a triangle top runs the risk of everyone getting a show everytime you move. I recommend going with a v-neck or scoop neckline and recommend choosing a dress that has atleast one inch straps to give you the ability to wear a non-strapless bra. If you are small chested (like me) than you basically get to wear whatever neckline you want. Aren't you lucky?

Here's a few styles to give you some visual aides:

The green dress is fantastic for pear shaped bodies with smaller chests and great shoulders. The ruching and angles on this dress draw the eye to the smallest part of your waist and the modified sweetheart neck helps to make your shoulders and chest look incredible.

The gray dress is just a fun example of what you can do if you have an awesome back and want to show it off. It still covers more than even a strapless dress would and gives you the support you don't get with a strapless but it still shows off a little bit of your back and shoulders. Both the green and gray dresses are from www.modcloth.com. They have some really amazing maxi dresses you should definitely go check them out!

The blue, red, and white striped dress is a great example of that waist definition I was telling you about for people with straight body types. The draw string waist and the extra volume up top will help to give you more curves. If you are a top heavy don't wear this dress. It will do absolutely nothing for your body.

This blue and white dress from Anthropologie is great if you have a larger chest. It's a bit of a deep V so if your really large chested make sure to wear a cami or a cami-bra (basically a cami but doesn't go all the way down to your waist like a cami would). If you need a suggestion for that kind of bra, I highly recommend checking out www.shopcoobie.com. If you are small chested and don't need a lot of bra support I would recommend checking these out as well. They are awesome. Ok, back to the dress. This dress allows for you to wear a more supportive bra and will help to minimize your shoulders and back if you are top heavy. Also, the defined waist will help give you a really great shape.

Maxi dresses are a great asset for the summer. They are cool but they still look great. Also, if you aren't a huge fan of wearing shorts or shorter skirts you can wear these and still be comfortable and cool this summer. Not to mention, you will be right on point with your fashion.

Kate Middleton: Fashion Fit for a Queen

I'm not sure there is anyone who has been talked about more over the past year than Kate Middleton. Her style is impeccable, she's always smiling, and she seems to be handling her new life with grace and ease. I'll be honest with you, Kate's style wasn't all that amazing before she became the Future Mrs. Future King of England. She was normal. Totally normal. However, I gotta admit she has some of the greatest outfits out there right now and she's got a serious ability to wear some crazy little hats. Lets take a look through some of what I think are Kate's best looks.

Disclaimer: I apologize in advance for the quality of some of these pictures... just squint. 

I don't think anyone will disagree with me that she looked absolutely stunning on her wedding day. Her dress was incredibly classic and was the perfect dress for a future queen that doesn't seem to feel the desire to make a statement by breaking the rules. Her second dress was gorgeous too. 

I am in love with this whole outfit. That dress is the most perfect dress in the world. She is wearing nothing but black and white and she looks incredible. Seriously, is anyone else a little sad that we in the US of A don't get to wear hats like that?

Although the outfit on the left is also kind of awesome and super classic, I have been in love with this floral dress she wore (I believe during their tour to the US and Canada) earlier this year. It is absolutely gorgeous. This picture does not even get close to doing this dress justice, but believe me it's beautiful. The pale floral print is understated and classic. The nude shoe makes her legs look a mile long. Also, how in the world is still walking across the grass in heels like that and being so graceful?!

This is what I was talking about when I said that she is seriously skilled at wearing crazy hats. Not very many people could pull this fascinator off without looking like a character from Dr. Suess. Love the classic cream suit dressed up with the belt too.

I loved this whole outfit when she wore it. I think she was doing something like digging a hole or something. Yep, that's what I wear to dig holes. I love the red flower and netting. Also, her hair is gorgeous. 

The key to Kate's impeccable style is that she doesn't try too hard. She follows the guidelines set before her by the Royal Family and just adds little flashes of flare. For those of us who don't have a Royal Family setting fashion guidelines for us we can follow Kate's example by embracing the classic silhouette she wears so well and so often. Ever notice how often she wears wrap dresses or dresses with belts? Kate has a thin athletic build but she gives herself a classic feminine body style by cinching in her waist and making sure her dresses are not too short. If any of you can rock one of those hats, send me the picture. I want to see it!