overall retirement party

Shirt: thrifted Talbots; overall shorts: thrifted; boots: swapped

It's amazing that looking at a picture can make you realize things about clothing that looking in a mirror can't. I love my body, and I think it's beautiful. However, I think I've just fallen out of love with these overall shorts.

I thrifted them almost two years ago and knew that they didn't fit then. They were too short lengthwise, too wide at the waist, AND they were seriously faded. They just weren't built to flatter my body type. But I wanted them really, really bad.


I took them home, lovingly dyed them which took care of the fading, and hardly wore them. When I did they wedgied really easily, and did nothing in the way of figure flattery. They make me look very bottom-of-the-tum plump, and not in a sexy-full-hips way.

All this I never really thought about until looking at these pictures. I still think they're adorable shorts, and still love them dearly, but I don't think they're for me. They are now destined for the hand me downs for my sister for her birthday bag, and maybe they'll fit her better.

Looking at these pictures doesn't make me feel bad about my body. Maybe that sentence makes you jump and say, "But you just completely bashed yourself, how can you say this?"

If you look back over this post you'll see that my criticisms are of the fit of the overalls, not my body, and I think that's a really important distinction. Asking "How do I look" when looking in the mirror puts the focues on how your body looks, even if you love your body dearly and love how it looks. "How does this [shirt, pair of pants, dress] look on my body" seems very different to me. Every piece of clothing is not going to look good on every person, but that's not a reason to feel bad about the shape of your body. But it's really hard to unlearn negative thinking when it comes to your own body.


However, what looking at these pictures makes me remember is what I really wanted when I bought these overalls. My dream was a piece of clothing with a vintage play suit feeling. Shorts that fit closely at the waist, nipping in where I curve to accentuate and flatter that curve, and a fitted bib that was more like the bodice of a dress that could be worn with or without a shirt underneath.

I have a sewing machine. I may not have the skills to make exactly this right now, but I think it's a great goal for this summer.

What do you do when you feel down about clothing that doesn't make you feel fabulous?

P.S. While goofing around on the internet this morning after writing this post I found a link through Casey's Elegant Musings (this post! More body love!) to a post on Style Trumps Fashion about yesterday being a day for shameless blogging. A day for celebrating your body the way it is? Yes please! Let's do this everyday.