As much as I usually post outfit pics that I feel good in, there are still those days when I feel hugely pregnant and when I try things that just don't work. For this particular night out, I really wanted to layer leather and faux fur. I thought my top layers might look good with a (non-maternity) H&M midi dress that I had picked up at Avalon Exchange with some store credit I got from selling clothes. They did not. So, I'm putting my vanity aside to show you why.
I was curious to see how the dress actually looked on me, so I took a few photos just to see. As you can tell, not great. The midi length is near impossible to pull off if you're not a supermodel, and the low, slouchy boot is not helping to elongate me at all. In general, black is great for hiding a bump, but in this case, I actually wanted more attention on the bump to distract from my hips. Don't laugh, this is actually one of the best aspects of being pregnant, people totally focus on your stomach and for once, it's ok! You can eat as much as you want and not have to worry about sucking it in, and any other flaws you might think you have fade into the background.
After I added my leather/fur layers (which I love!), the proportions were definitely off. If you think of your body as divided into three equal parts from top to bottom (Tim Gunn explains it here), you can see how the middle third of my body is much longer than either the top of bottom, which isn't pleasing to the eye. Also, the skirt of the dress reads as a straight-up-and-down rectangle, instead of tapering towards the knee, which would streamline the look. Again, if I'd worn higher heels, the proportion would have been slightly better, but still not great.
At this point, the light was gone, I had already put away my tripod, but I was still trying to make it work. I just started taking photos in my bedroom mirror - excuse the quality.
To try to address the proportion issue, I hiked that bad boy up to above my knees. Nope, still not feeling good.
Banana Republic leather jacket, thrifted Gap faux fur vest, Old Navy maternity tee, Paige jeans, Franco Sarto boots
In the end, I fell back on something in my comfort zone, skinny black jeans and a higher wedge heel. The proportions are right here: 1/3 is my top, 2/3 are from the waist on down. Pregnancy in particular is one of those times that you just want to feel content and confident with what you're wearing. Really, we all want to feel good in what we wear, and sometimes it takes a few do-overs (it happens to the best of us - see my last "don't" here). All you can do is learn from it (taking photos, even just on your iPhone, helps to see the issue) and move on! No beating ourselves up here.
Do you think about proportions when you're getting dressed? Have you had days where you needed do-overs? What did you learn?
