Mamas, you guys are amazing. I'm always overwhelmed by the amount of support, insight, generosity, and great ideas that come out of our readers. And one of my favorite examples happened recently, in the comments that reader Krista received when she wrote in wondering what to wear to her 5-year collage reunion. (See This Poochy Mama Needs to Party!) If you recall, Krista, who has diastasis recti, wrote:
I feel like I'm twenty-something going on sixty-something, and it makes me sad. Usually I just ignore it and snuggle my toddler closer, but for this one weekend I'm going to be attempting to recapture my youth...and I just don't want to be the one who gets forgiven for her lack of fashion sense because "she had a baby".
Well. Krista's words certainly struck home. Many readers commented that they have felt the same way. Reader Courtney said, "I could've written this post, except my little guy is almost 3!" Totally. Others weighed-in with their own pooch-hiding tips, or linked to their fav pooch-hiding party clothes.
You guys rock.
And Krista was very appreciative of all of the advice. So appreciative, in fact, that she's reported back! With pics!! So keep reading to find out what Krista wore (and it's a far, far cry from sixty-anything).
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Hello again ANMJ,
Can I just say—YOU ARE A LIFESAVER. Or maybe the correct word is sanity-saver. Regardless, I did some inspired shopping and skipped off to my reunion feeling emboldened by your post and the lovely comments from all the readers. I just…there aren’t words. Thank you.
I may not have enough adjectives to adequately explain how wonderful this blog is, BUT I do have some pictures from my weekend, and some reflections on what I wore. I apologize in advance for the terrible quality of most of these, but my camera has been without a flash for the better part of a year now, oops.
My first revelation in reading your post was the end-of-day stomach muscle surrender…clearly I am still suffering from baby brain because I never even thought about that before! I only knew that I felt defeated when I looked in the mirror after a meal or in the evenings, which is when I shower (so, lots of defeat going around). Just the knowledge that the evening slump was not on account of eating that extra dinner roll was a HUGE confidence booster, as weird as that seems. And with the nighttime pooch in mind, I Spanx’d it to within an inch of its life!!!
Actually, it was a double-Spanx situation. The first day, we weren’t pulling into our old college town until evening—did I mention I was taking my engineering licensing exam THAT DAY and driving to reunion right after? I think I might be insane—so I knew I’d need some tummy control. I pulled on my pair of mid-thigh belly control Spanx, then a lace-trimmed shaping cami—another ANMJ brilliant suggestion. High-waisted pooch-containing jeans on bottom and something I’ve decided to call a trapeze top finished the look. I looked good. And you know what? I felt good.
I’ve come to consider this shirt a magical shirt, and I wish I had run back out and bought more in every color while they were still in stock. It’s an Apt. 9 shirt from Kohl’s. The embellished neckline draws nice attention to the girls without showcasing the jiggliness of postpartum breasts, and then it flows down from that point, so it’s a pretty good pooch-hider, too. I feel extra confident in this shirt so that helps! I think it’s the same concept as the trapeze dresses you mentioned, just in shirt form.
So that was the first night. The next day was our only full day in town, and there was a lot to be crammed in. For daytime, I had a pair of jeans that made my derriere look fabulous, and an older diagonal colorblocked top from Forever21. The top is a little bit loosey-goosey like the drapey tee you mentioned, and the black section being on the bottom (aka over the stomach) helps too, I think. Shaper cami in place, warm shoes for sitting in the freezing cold stands at the football game, and I was good to go! I even managed to squeeze some leopard print in with my trusty gloves and earmuffs.
After the evening game, we made plans to go out downtown. This was where I pulled out all the stops and decided to be a little bit less-than-subtle. I liked your idea of fun, printed skinnies, AND I seemed to remember a post you did that briefly discussed gold pants. (Mentioned briefly here.) My alma mater’s colors are black and gold, so…I bought shiny gold leggings.
And I rocked them.
I saw the leggings at Forever21 and knew they were going to be my “I’M AWESOME” piece. I surfed some websites before settling on Forever21’s charcoal sweater tunic—I definitely wanted a shirt that would cover my butt, and with it being late October, I also wanted something a little warm. Plus the purposefully-shapeless drape of the sweater let me look trendy AND hid my pooch, so I’m chalking that up as a win. I decided to forego a skinny belt, even though it looked cute on the model—my torso is essentially all the same size now, so there’s no “smallest point” to place the belt for emphasis. And did I mention statement earrings? I love them. Honestly, all the earrings I own are statement earrings. They’re such an easy way to amp up an outfit!
Again, I double-Spanx’d under the leggings (a must for leggings-as-pants, anyway), broke out my favorite pair of killer black heels, and spritzed on my happy-place perfume. We went out on the town for several hours and every single person I talked to thought the look was fabulous. I can’t tell you how much of a goofy grin I had on my face all weekend as former classmates would say, “Wow, you look amazing! And I’ve seen pictures, your daughter is precious!*” I couldn’t get a very good pic of the leggings while I was actually at reunion, so I redid the look when I got home, and included my toddler to up the cuteness factor. These are SO much shinier in real life.
*Just to be clear, I do enjoy when people ooh and aah over my girl, obvi. But this particular weekend it was nice to have some of that positive attention comin’ my way, as well!
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Krista, you gorgeous girl, you did so well. What fun inspiration for the rest of us - and just in time for the holidays!! Thank you thank you thank you for sending in pics!!
xo,
S
