just as it is: dressing to flatter your trouble areas.

Striped dress: ASOS. (in tall too.) Bag: ASOS. Shoes: ASOS. Sunglasses: Kate Spade. Necklace: Target. (similar here.)

It’s no secret that I’m a dress girl.  I could wear dresses all day everyday all year round.  Especially, shirt dresses and striped dresses (I can never say no to stripes), and when the two are combined?  I’m a goner.  One of the things I love about dresses is their ability to camouflage trouble areas: specifically for me, my arms, legs and general shortness.  The thing about dresses is that with the right silhouette you can really enhance what you’ve got, and make the most of your body just as it is.

I’ve always had a relatively flat stomach (a little less so now after 5 babies) which I feel like is one of my strengths as well as my general petiteness.  However, this also means my legs are very short, it’s easy for them to look stubby, and being under 5 feet (4′ not quite 11″ to be exact) means that it’s super tricky to get the proportions on my clothes to be spot on.  It’s uncommon for me to not have to alter my clothes even in some small way to make them fit properly.  Also my arms are not slim, I’d like to say that I don’t mind at all, but the truth is, my thick arms bother me.

I’ve learned that the best way for me personally to love my body–perceived flaws and all–is to dress in a way that masks what I don’t like, and enhances what I do.

 I love this dress because it hits at the natural waist, helping my legs to look a little longer and emphasizing the smallest part of my torso, the vertical stripes help me look and feel a little taller and the longer sleeve length hits at a nice spot on my arms.  Since my arms are naturally on the thicker side, I like to avoid cap-sleeves where possible because they just really don’t flatter me.

Learning to dress in a way that makes me feel the most confident with my body, just as it is, has been a key for me learning to love my body just as it is.

This fall I’ve been on a really big burgundy kick.  Everyday I have a little conversation with myself, “Cori, try to not wear burgundy today, mix it up a little.”  I’m successful about half the time.  ;-)  I’ve been looking to add a pair of burgundy pumps and a cross body saddle bag.  I found both at ASOS for a great price (the dress as well, ironically).  I love shopping ASOS because their European sizes run smaller than US sizes and I don’t have to alter clothes I order from ASOS nearly as much if at all.  I took the hem of this dress up a bit, but that was it…

shop the look: