Can you look nice when short and overweight?

[FancyNewBeesly]

I’m 5’2” and a 14-16. I feel absolutely vile in all clothes. I see other people who are objectively larger than me who look fantastic, I see friends of mine who are bigger and they look lovely whereas I look like 10lb of crap in a 5lb bag.

I hate having my photo taken. I hate bumping into people who haven’t seen me for a while. I have various health issues that are making it very difficult to lose any weight and I feel so crap about it.

How can I look better? I used to be hourglass shape but now have a huge stomach (thanks, twin pregnancy) and weight around my arse and hips. I need Gok Wan or something, except I can’t wear magic pants due to my health issues.

It’s weird I never appreciated my “slim” body and always thought I was big. Now I’m bigger I regret not having the confidence to wear what what wanted- far too much time in 20s and early 30s worry that my ( then size 10/12) bum looked big. FYI your then self IT DID NOT!
Back to current issues- I’m loving granny pants - sexy they are not but they are gently tummy controlling.

This style of dress is great www.jaeger.co.uk/essential-breton-dress-72f23a & makes me look two sizes smaller.

There is science to say horizontal stripes are your friend if you have any curves. (Edinburgh Sci Fest a couple of years ago).
The fabric is thick cotton so it touches the wide points but does not cling like viscose.
I'm short so it comes below my knees, which is a very good thing.
I wear with sandals with medium heel for the extra height.

Empire line dresses make me look like the side of a bus.
Well cut shift dresses are my staple for work.

I am 5 foot 1 and a good size 12. I carry all of my weight on my middle and bum, I have quite a small chest. I know prople say say that a 12 isnt big, but I have a size 8 frame, so i have rolls of fat on my middle now and I am not a healthy bmi for the first time ever.

I still feel that I look decent though. I wear very similar outfits every day as I feel good in them. So my uniform is straight leg jeans as high rise as possible (m and s ones that were £35 full price suit me best so I have dark blue, mid blue and black), m and s long sleeve heatgen bass layer top and a phase eight becca knitted batwing top. Big long silver pendant from phase eight. Ankle boots. Scarf if cold. I have beccas in loads of colours, heatgen tops in every colour too.

I always wear make up but I always did whn I was slim too.

I think it's harder. I am 5'1'' and 9 stone and even though I'm not medically fat iykwim, I feel fashion fat. I put far more thought in to even the simplest and most casual outfits than most people have to.

These bad boys

I wear my hair up more as I feel ( probably incorrectly) that it adds the illusion of height!

I avoid putting mine up so I can pretend it hides my double chin when it’s down! Maybe I’m thinking it all wrong...

I’m sorry you’re all struggling too. For me I’ve always had quite a broad frame (broad ribs, wide back etc) even when a size 6 and not an ounce of fat on me (I was on meds that caused weight loss back then, I’m not naturally that size!). Add in my fat face to my wide shoulders and I just think it’s impossible to look nice at this size. But I never think this about other people - so either they know something I don’t or I’m just way harder on myself than I should be.

I just find it such a struggle. I’ve tried skater style dresses but being short I always find the waist is too low and actually sits around my massive stomach. If I look at individual parts of my body I can see they’re not that big but looking at the whole overall I feel bloody enormous.

Think maybe I need to find some diastasis recti exercises and find the energy to do them. I’m about 1.5st up on my pre-pregnancy weight and I was barely passable then!

Ugh, that’s another thing - my bloody hair! I wear it up but it looks so flat against my head, it just looks rubbish.

I look at photos of me 10 years ago when I was still giving myself a hard time and want to cry!

I'm another 5ft 2 size 14, carry all my weight around my tummy and have a considerable amount of back fat!

I find it so difficult to know what suits me, internet shopping is usually a disaster as I find things I love but they look hideous when I try them on.

I stick to skinny jeans, and although I have tons of clothes, some I've never even removed the tags from, I always seem to wear the same shapeless tops that hide my middle. Large bust doesn't help either.

Another one struggling to find any clothes I like at the moment. 5 foot nothing, size 12-14 on top, 16 on bottom half. Weight piled on due to ill health and being perimenopausal.

I had a really strong sense of style in my twenties, but obviously what I liked then doesn’t suit me now (and the style doesn’t seem to be widely available in shops anyway).

I wear longish baggy jumpers with skinny jeans/jeggings - mostly for comfort/practicality. They don’t really flatter, as I have largeish boobs. I look properly frumpy, but I work from home and look after 1 year old DD so don’t have time to do much shopping at the moment.

I used to love more hippyish/boho style clothes, but they are hard to find. H&M LOGG range used to have some nice stuff but it’s very hit and miss now. Joe Brown is OK but can be a bit over-embellished. I’ve seen some nice Mint Velvet stuff but it’s a) out of my price range and b) in boring colours.

Anyone tried this
www.whitestuff.com/womens/dresses/brooklyn-blue-stripe-nina-stripe-jersey-dress/?gclid=CjwKCAjwwbHWBRBWEiwAMIV7E2Wl6usIFlHVCcf8fLkhUGULO2bXsGImkVYSN03oDBlQ7eoU5sLwexoCSYUQAvD_BwE

I liked it in shop, but didn't dare try on.. I have so many stripped tops already, but not a dress. Scared of what it will do to my bum

I have a very similiar dress from Seasalt - the sailor tunic I think it's called. I prefer it as its shorter so a better length on me.