playing dress-up

I am not much of a girly-girl. I don't wear makeup often, I prefer jeans to skirts, and my interests tend to fall into the realm of football and beer more than shopping and fru-fru cocktails. I don't really run in the kinds of circles that have events requiring formal or semi-formal dress, so I don't even own an LBD (little black dress).

That being said, I don't mind dressing up if there is occassion for it. Sometimes I like to try on fancy dresses just to see how I look, even though I have no intention to buy any. In part, it's simply because I can. At Macy's today, there were literally scores of dresses that I could have tried on, in a whole palette of colors and styles.

Frankly, I am still getting used to having so much choice. A lot of dressy clothing designed for bigger women still tends to be geared toward middle aged socialites. Needless to say, selection is very limited, particularly if you don't want to look like a middle aged socialite. I was reminded of this today as I was finishing up in the changing room. I overheard a mom and aunt reassuring a daughter that her dress looked nice, was not too wedding-y, and looked good for a dance and didn't age her. It sounded like they were trying to convince her to go with what she was wearing, and she was not quite sold on the idea. When I stepped out of the dressing room, I saw a very pretty, young blonde who probably wore about a size 24, wearing a long black formal dress and looking doubtfully at her reflection. She did look nice, but I didn't say anything because I didn't want to embarrass her.

But oh, I understood.

I had just finished trying on 4 dresses. My favorite one was the 1st I'd put on, and was the one that made me decide to go through the hassle of trying on clothes in the first place when I saw it on the mannekin. When I put it on, I liked how it looked. Except... The dress was a bit form fitting around the legs and stopped at the knee, and so I thought it drew too much attention to my legs. I don't like how my legs look, they are thick and no amount of running will ever make them slender and shapely. So I tend to hide them under longer skirts. I wasn't as happy with the other dresses but knew which one I'd have purchased if I'd actually been in the market for a dress and it wasn't that 1st one.

I took photos of myself in the 4 dresses, to bring home and see with a more objective eye than simply the mirror. I'm glad I did. Here are the photos. I wish the quality were better, but it's hard when using a cell phone camera with fitting room lighting.

Dress #1- It's hard to tell, but the fabric is kind of layered. At the knee in front, the hem is not straight, but comes up in a slight peak. I really like the rounded neckline compared the v-neck of the other dresses:




Dress #2- This one was a bit plain and was my least favorite:




Dress #3- this had some nice beaded detail on the bodice. It wasn't too bad (although this picture is) but it drops a little too low under the arms and shows some of the flabby skin leftover after losing weight. I'm holding my arms down to hide it. That nixed this dress right there:




Dress #4- Similar in style to #2, but a bit more interesting with the lace at the top instead of plain fabric. This is the one I'd have purchased had I needed to buy one right then:





Now that I have viewed these at home, though, I can see that in dress #1, my legs don't look as bad as I thought. I know I felt the best in that dress otherwise. It has a little more pizazz, and overall I thought even when I was trying them on, that it flattered my shape the best. So I think I would go with #1 if I needed a fancy dress right now. I'd simply get a snazzy pair of shoes, metaphorically stick out my tongue at my legs and go have a great time.