***TW: Weight loss*** I’m in a strange place with my wardrobe at the moment. My maternity pieces have been put in a bag ready to sell/give to friends and family/donate to a charity shop. While they’re still flattering round my tummy, they’re all too big in other places and I just look silly wearing them as a result. While most people could probably go back into their pre-pregnancy wardrobe with just a few tweaks here and there, I’m not in that position having lost a lot of weight when I came off Gabapentin to try for a family. I was also only able to maintain my weight (Elise growing while I was loosing) during pregnancy because of my PoTS. You can read more about this in my tips for managing PoTS in pregnancy post, which will be up on Tuesday. So this begs the question, what is next for my wardrobe?
I currently weigh the same as I did in the summer of 2010, after I’d just left university. I’m just 1/2 a stone off my comfortable, ‘normal’ weight. So it’s highly likely that most of the clothes I’ve been wearing from 2011 onwards won’t fit me – a big consideration when thinking about what is next for my wardrobe.
My first job is going to be to go through all of my clothes to find out what fits and what doesn’t. Sensibly, I kept all of my size 8 and 10 clothes in the vain hope that one day I’d loose the Gabapentin weight. Well, that day has finally (almost) come! I’ll also be looking to see which pieces look like they’ve seen better days. I tend to keep these, but then never wear them because they look tatty – well, not any more!
Note: While I’ll be starting to re-introduce my medication in about three weeks time, I have decided that I won’t be going back onto Gabapentin. This is for a couple of reasons, one of which is the weight gain it caused. While on Gabapentin, there was nothing I could do to maintain a stable weight, let alone loose any. I felt like I didn’t belong in my own skin and I’m not going back to that, especially not with a daughter to bring up. I want Elise to grow up with a positive body image and I can’t promote that feeling as rubbish as I did about my own body at the height of my Gabapentin weight. So when I’m thinking about what is next for my wardrobe, weight gain won’t be a factor.
I’ve made a start with trying on clothes to see what still fits me. Before I can start planning what is next for my wardrobe in terms of new pieces, I need to know what I’ve already got to work with. I’ve not got very far trying my clothes on though, as Elise seems to constantly want feeding. But, I’m making slow progress. My smallest clothes in the loft still and am just waiting for Dan to bring them down for me. I’m hoping some of them will fit me now.
While I go through to see what fits me and what doesn’t, I’ll also be thinking about whether pieces suit my current style and my now seated frame – after all, 2010 was quite a while ago. My style has changed and I’m now a wheelchair user, so I need a wardrobe that reflects this! It also needs to be practical for parenthood.
My maternity wardrobe, which you can find out more about in my Maternity Capsule Wardrobe, Converting To Maternity Wear and Maternity Clothing Essentials posts, has inspired me to step out of my comfort zone a little. There was a time when I’d happily wear much more colour than I do now, and I’d like to channel that in my wardrobe. Burgundy has always been a favourite colour on me – it compliments my skin and hair colourings beautifully. But, moving forward with my wardrobe, I’d also like to include more purples (What To Wear With Purple?) yellows (Styling A Mustard Chunky Knit Jumper) and even reds! I used to avoid red, but love how the red accents look in my Black Outfit With Red Accents and Making A Plain Outfit Interesting With Ruby Shoo posts.
The past few months have given me a new level of appreciation for these colours and I’m looking forward to working them into my wardrobe moving forward. I’m all about colours that compliment my precision tinted lenses!
When thinking about what is next for my wardrobe, it’s not just my use of colours that I’ll be expanding, patterns will also become more of a feature for me. I got so much wear out of my black and white striped maternity t-shirt, that I’ll be on the look out for a replacement. It might take me a while to find something I like, because my mears-irlen syndrome means I just can’t manage tightly knit or significantly contrasting patterns.
Something else that will become more of a feature of my wardrobe is shoes. For many years, I’ve been restricted to flat shoes, because they were the only things I could walk in without falling over or ending up in extreme pain. Now I’ve got my wheelchair, heels are not only an option again, they’re my preferred option! With the positioning of my foot plate, I can’t put my feet flat on the bar. If I don’t wear some kind of heel, my ankles wobble all over the place, which can become rather painful! I’ve some gorgeous shoes that haven’t seen the light of day for many years, so |I’mm looking forward to incorporating them into my wardrobe again.
What will you be introducing into your wardrobe for the upcoming season?
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