New wardrobe

[Bubble00]

Last year I ballooned with pregnancy, this year I am breastfeeding and I have no clothes that fit or look nice. :/

What are your wardrobe staples and where can I shop online?

Sick of black leggings and a tshirt.

Anyone?...or are we all wearing black leggings and tshirts

All my wardrobe staples come from Cos, but I wouldn't shop online there at all, their clothes look totally different on to how they look online. Online, I get quite a few things from JohnLewis - they have a good range of stuff if you're not sure what you want. What sort of things did you wear before pregnancy?

Thanks poolani Quite rock/biker pre pregnancy. Now jeans seem to give me a muffin top or knee crotch :/ I have some tired H&M breastfeeding tops that have been worn to oblivion. Fat Face shirt and hoodie... not much else that fits... Currently about 14 plus for bust and 12 bottom. Just feel completely uninspired... capri pants for the summer/sandals/ tops??

A bit uninspired but have you looked at boden? I've had some nice cropped trousers from there (don't like much else, tho). Gap have got some nice ones in at the moment as well. AllSaints is the place for rock/biker but, love all their stuff though I do, I find it outrageously expensive, but maybe look there just for ideas if it's out of budget? Honestly, I think you need to take yourself to a shopping centre just to get a bit of inspiration and start looking around at other women to see what kind of looks you like.

I go on Pinterest and Nick ideas off there, I started in 2013 and am literally only just starting to pull it all together. It takes time not to mention money

What are the basics though? - I wish I could take myself to a shopping center but I don't live anywhere near one - hence it being online -

All Saints is nice ....but 115Euro for a t-shirt

😮 exactly!
My basics are:

• white shirts (have loads of different styles, am a bit addicted, you could possibly take an online punt at cos for those)
• cigarette style trousers
• cotton jumpers (am loving this at FC right now www.frenchconnection.com/product/woman-collections-jumpers-and-cardigans/766zz/sudan-marl-top.htm?clr=cccccc

and looking at the website, you could do worse than looking at their Essentials section. Am liking a lot of it).

• easy wear jersey type dresses (in whatever style suits your shape)
• skinny jeans
• colours are white, grey, black and navy (boring but they suit me, and I like 'em)

French connection is great for this stuff, their sale is coming up soon. I reckon 4 pairs of jeans, black, white, light blue, dark blue. Funky tshirts - about £40 - but at least 20% off if you time it right. A leather jacket, real or fake, trainers gazelle or super stars and you're good to go. Then add grey jeans, extra jumpers, tops etc as you see them

Try Hush or The White company, good for decent top and t shirts. As Pissed said - jeans, try M&S lots of styles with decent waists to avoid muffin top.
Depending on what size you were pre pregnancy also probably dictates what you want to spend. I personally would rather buy quality and buy a bit less, but if you are likely to change size quite rapidly I would look at Primark/H&M disposable type clothing.
Use companies with free delivery and returns ie Boden / Hush then you won't feel pressured into keeping things you are not quite sure if and may regret later.

Hey high waisted skinny jeans- try ever island.

Long line tailored shirts- h and m

Skinny chinos- Zara or mango

Stretchy vest tops- primark then a nicer t-shirt in top do easy of breast feeding.

I'm probably not the most stylish but I am currently trying to update my wardrobe after having and breastfeeding 2 DC in the last few years.

I don't want to spend too much money as hoping to tone up a bit more. I decided on a colour palette of navy, blue, white/cream with a few black items.

I have a dark blue and light blue pair of skinnies which I wear turned up with converse, toms or sandals. Think they are M&S and River Island. Would also like to invest in a pair of girlfriend jeans if I can find a flattering pair.

I have a couple of pairs of cropped pants, a tube skirt, a maxi skirt and a pair of denim shorts.
Zara are good for cropped pants with a bit of stretch, eg m.zara.com/ie/en/woman/trousers/smart/mid-rise-trousers-with-belt-c401020p3773715.html

Maxi skirt from F&F
www.clothingattesco.com/womens-skirts/f+f-striped-maxi-skirt/invt/jf613407

Uniqlo draped t-shirt to wear with skinny turned up jeans or tube skirt:
www.uniqlo.com/uk/store/goods/171408

Uniqlo Cardigan jackets. So comfy to throw over any outfit
www.uniqlo.com/uk/store/goods/163338

H&M linen t-shirts: m2.hm.com/m/en_ie/productpage.0301768002.html

Also am trying to make more an effort to accessorise my outfits, have loads of jewellery I rarely wear, belts etc

Thanks for the links people! Hugely appreciated. Poolani - my white tshirts never stay white for very long but I do love the look. River Island has some lovely clothes.
Any mum fashion blogs you can recommend?

My wardrobe basics

7-10 tshirts (mine are almost identical from H&M, black works better for me than white)
3 jeans (mine are bootcut m&s and a skinny pair from Primark)
1-2 Denim Skirts (or summer to winter bottoms in your style). I go for one knee length one slightly shorter usually M&S denim.
3 summer bottoms (either long or short, skirts or shorts, capris etc or Dresses). Atm one pair of shorts from h&m one from Primark and a really decent long summer skirt from tk maxx. Often jersey dresses from Asda.
4 jumper/cardigans. 1 must be a cardigan in your dark neutral (eg black navy olive) mine is h&m.
2 hoodis or other warm jumpers.
One "performance" waterproof hooded coat. I spend on this. Mine insulated so can cover winter too.
One smart blazer (this was a spend item but about 10+ years ago)
One biker or leather jacket (haven't got this yet as not urgent for me. My blazer covers everything a leatger jacket does really).
One smart winter coat (only needed heading into winter)

Have lost a lot of weight recently so this is what I find I need to keep me going. My wardrobe is black and white based, so my dark neutral is black. Now weight is starting to stabilise starting to add in a few key colour items.

I prefer jersey to linen, as I find it moves easier and is therefore easier with a child with special needs.

I have more than the basic jumpers but thats because most stilll work from when i was a larger size. For the jumpers I'd love cashmere but that's too pricey for me, most of mine cost a tenner or less. I have a mix of marks and spencers (for wool blends that are warm), h&m for decent quality cotton basics and a few from asda (actually the most expensive at £15) primark for style over substance. The hoodies are cheap from tk maxx mens section. Some point I want to replace my expensive slim line really warm expensive fleece but not until I'm at target weight.

If you need a work wardrobe I would add 3 bottoms 1 long skirt or trouser in you dark neutral the other two either patterned or plain. If these can double with your summer skirts or the summer to winter bottoms much cheaper.

I find I look at the capsule packing pinterest pages for long term travel, then work out how they apply to me and the way I live my life. They are fantastic for working out a bare bones wardrobe you can add too.

Thanks Toffeelatteplease! Thats a great list! Im also trying to read about the best colors that suit me - Really not got a clue but I am pale skin dark eyes and brown hair with natural highlight (yep be needing a trip to the hairdresser as well...) Black has been my staple so It would be nice for some color- orange seems to suit, but I used my sisters jumper and she lives miles away so won't be borrowing that again ;)...

I'm kinda assuming you are after a wardrobe that works for now but that you're planning on losing weight eventually. I've you are not please ignore what I am about to add.

Its a good plan to keep one end reasonably plain and the other patterned/coloured. So for me tops are mostly plain, bottoms are patterned/colour. This makes it easier to swop out items as you change size and still match the majority of your wardrobe. I found I can wear the same size tops but bottoms are changing fortnightly to monthly, I should imagine the opposite is true breastfeeding.

Having a colour scheme in mind makes shopping way easier especially searching for standout peices (eg I'm looking for a bright red pair of shorts). However unless you are planning on staying the size you are, for the time being I'd get the bulk of the colour in from accessories. They'll be useful whatever size and the simpler the basic wardrobe the less likely to find you have to suddenly have to change everything if you start to lose weight.

Natural fibres like cotton and linen are lovely but Jersey is one of the most forgiving fabrics both when you ate larger than you'd like and also for shape change. I've come down from a very tight 18 (I refused to buy any bigger) to a 14 (still dropping). My asda long jersey dresses were one of the few things that looked good at large size and I can still wear them with a large waist belt now (although I mostly have nicer stuff in the basics above). The long jersey skirt is my first size 12 purchase, it's a stretch so should last but thankfully it doesn't look it.

So I have ordered myself some tops and high waist jeans from River Island (on sale 33 euro)... and a expensive black embroidered plunge swimsuit... but I love it and I will use it....and its good for bf.... ;)