Making comfort look chic
It's been a long process, but I'm finally happy with my comfortable yet chic dress sense.
As much as I’m not a fashion stylist, I still love style, and over the years I’ve become progressively good and happy with styling myself. One thing I pride myself on is being able to dress casually but chic.
I remember there was a time that I wished I could wear the most comfortable clothes and somehow still look chic and presentable. It’s taken me some time to figure out what my style is and own it, but now that I’ve got here, I’m pretty comfortable with it and feel chic while doing it.
For me, being comfortable in my clothes is so important. The two most important things to me when it comes to comfort dressing are ensuring I don’t feel restricted in my clothes and that my feet are comfortable.
It took me a little while to figure out why I felt so uncomfortable when I actually felt like I had put together a pretty good outfit. I soon realized that I was constantly playing around with my top, making sure it wasn’t sticking to me, and it just made me feel flustered. On top of that, the shoes I wore played such a big part in my mood. If I felt uncomfortable, such as being conscious of my top being too tight, mainly because I was worried about looking fat, or if I was wearing heels, it really did affect how I felt. I just ended up feeling hot and flustered, and I just wanted to get out of my clothes and put some joggers on.
One thing I want to make very clear is that my reason for feeling uncomfortable wearing tops that may show off my fat rolls when I sit wasn’t because of what anyone else would think. I don’t really care what other people think; what I do care about is how I feel. And if that didn’t make me feel like my best self and I wanted to wear something that did make me feel like my best self, I wanted to be able to dress myself in a way that made the most of my shape. I started to look at styling myself in a similar way to makeup application. I know how to enhance certain features on my face, and that’s exactly how I decided to approach my style of dressing. I still wear tight tops, but now I know how to layer my clothes so that I can have the best of both worlds.
Casual chic hasn’t always been at the forefront of trends. Since 2019, we’ve had a painful couple of years due to the pandemic; however, albeit minor, something good did come out of it. The pandemic put casual comfort at the forefront, and post-pandemic fashion trends changed. All of a sudden, we went from suits to sweat pants during and after the pandemic. We no longer had to dress up to go out, but instead put comfort at the forefront.
We wanted to be comfortable but also not look or feel like we just rolled out of bed. Working from home meant that we also somehow needed to boost our mood by making casual feel and look presentable. After all, how we dress also dictates how we feel. And thankfully, this stayed with us even when the world finally got back to normal.
So how do you dress comfortably yet make it look chic? When I’m deciding what to wear for the day, the first two things I decide on are my top and my shoes. The rest is chosen to complement these two things. So think about what it is that makes you feel uncomfortable when you dress yourself, and then prioritize that when deciding what to wear.
When I want to wear a vest top or some type of fitted top, I usually add an oversized blazer and wide-leg pants. Then, depending on what I’m dressing for, I’ll add either smart flat platform sliders, flat pointy shoes, or a pair of smart white sneakers. I’ll finish this whole look off with a pair of chunky small hoops, chunky rings, and maybe a necklace, depending on the neckline of my top. My hair is usually in a low, slicked-back low ponytail.
When it’s that time of month and tight tops are way at the back of my mind, I’ll opt for an oversize T-shirt with joggers, sneakers, chunky hoops, and a baseball cap. Although this sounds casual, the way you do your makeup can really elevate this look. Even if I dress like I really wasn’t anticipating leaving the house, I will always add nice jewelry and a nice baseball cap, and my makeup will be on point.
I can’t tell you how to dress, but I do hope that by sharing how I dress when I want to put effort in and when I don’t want to put any effort in, I really do hope this inspires you to reevaluate how you look at your own wardrobe.
I’m so happy blazers are plentiful right now because I love them. They can dress up or down. I like your idea of wide leg pants but at 5 ft I feel they make me look even shorter. I prefer to stick with straight legs for that reason. I can’t imagine you looking anything but very classy no matter what