Belted!

As I become more comfortable with the body that I have and have become less self-conscious about what others (students, colleagues, friends) think about how I wear clothes on said body, I've started to wear things that I felt were out of my range just a year or so ago. My body hasn't really changed, but how I view it and how I put clothing on it has changed. I won't wear shirts from the Juniors department just because they're significantly cheaper anymore, but I will emphasize my curves in ways that in the past I wouldn't because I would have been too concerned about people thinking that I looked fat. In part this is due to my increasing confidence as a dresser with a more cohesive sense of style. In part this is due to the fact that I've come to the conclusion that you don't have to be a certain size to wear skinny jeans or belted dresses and have them look amazing. Attitude isn't everything, but it is almost everything sometimes.

This summer, as I was working on getting over my fear of wearing the color yellow, I also bought a belted dress that I thought would transition well from summer into autumn and beyond. I had been a little wary of wearing belts and belted dresses, but I was drawn to the purple and plaid pattern of the dress. The deep purple in the pattern seems to be one of the it colors for this fall, as does a sort of mustard gold. Today I thought I would combine the two colors with the dress and a lovely cardigan and place the belt so as to accentuate my waist. I wore it with sweater tights, black and grey spectator Mary Jane pumps, and a black, yellow, and cream faux cameo necklace that I bought on Etsy.



I honestly loved the results and may have found a new favorite outfit! It can be remixed with different color tights and boots or even a different color cardigan. I never thought I would feel so comfortable doing the belted look, but I felt like I rocked it as I graded essays, as I taught a text about a cross-dressing, seventeenth-century nun (for whom clothes were extremely important both as a disguise and a marker of class), and as I lectured in my second class of the day. While this is definitely not an outfit for the interview circuit, I could see myself wearing it to a smaller conference.

By the way, gents, the belted look is in for you as well. Check out these looks for fall 2009 that came down the Milan runway back in January:

How do you feel about the belted look? Are belts your friends or your foes?