If you carry most of your weight around your lower half, what are you wearing this summer?

[sheshootssheimplores]

I’m honestly at a loss. I’ve put on two stone since my last really traumatic pregnancy loss two years ago and have been trying to lose it unsuccessfully. I am probably naturally quite an hourglass figure. I have a waist but also large thighs and large arse.

In the cooler weather my style is skirts/dresses, black leggings, boots. This works quite well and seems to balance my figure okay. Come summer I haven’t a clue what to do I hate my thighs in trousers, I feel like I need to hide them, but trousers and long top just seems so dated 🤷‍♀️

Does anyone have a style that’s fairly modern but yet still gives coverage in warmer weather? I know I look ridiculous as my friend can be standing next to me looking all floaty and cool and I’m dressed head to toe in black like a goth 😬

Another vote for wide leg trousers. I like them high waisted with a fitted or tucked in / half tucked in top. They skim arse and thighs and move the focus up to the waist. They can even make my legs look longer.
Also a decent bra - not so much to make boobs look bigger but to lift them away from my waist.

Can’t imagine that parachute dress flattering anyone

I'm wearing maxi dresses with a high, defined waistband and flowing skirts. Also peg leg linen trousers with long floating shirts and long A line skirts with fitted tees or shell tops.
I find winter harder. Sausage legs in jeans. Baggy jumpers so nothing to ever define the slimmest part - the waist. When summer comes people suddenly start giving me compliments again. I look like I've lost a stone.

To stop the chafing, just buy cropped leggings from Primark - about £2 a pair for very lightweight ones that are either cycling shorts length or just below the knee.

YY Greenglassteacup. That parachute dress would make me look absolutely huge, and I'm quite slim.

While I'm on the slim side, though, I do carry a disproportionate amount of weight on my bottom half. I tend to try and get away with this my making the most of my (better) top half. I suit a slightly oversized vest top, that shows off my decent arms and collarbones, tucked into either dark denim shorts or into jersey peg-leg trousers. Teamed with sandals, big sunglasses, nice earrings.

As an aside, I was on a day out yesterday and the sheer number of people who were ruining very pretty summer dresses with black Capri-length leggings underneath made me want to cry.

They flatter nobody, they cut off legs at a really unflattering point, and they make lovely dresses look cheap and crap. I get that you might want to wear something underneath a summer dress - but black leggings are rarely the answer (unless the dress is very short and more of a top, and the leggings are good quality, and they're 7/8 length so they don't cut off mid-calf).

I think I'm in the minority though, judging by the number of people I saw yesterday sporting the look.

*Running - how could you see their capri pants? Were the dresses translucent?

Black leggings are a godsend if you haven't shaved your legs or they look a bit pasty so no wonder everyone is wearing them at the moment. They'll be removed once it gets much hotter I'm sure.

Don’t the parachute dresses emphasise the bottom half even more?

Yes they would

Indeed they would.

And growling - because the leggings were longer than the dresses.

I’m pear-shaped so I always go for close-fitting top half and drapey bottom half, either wide leg trousers or maxi skirt.

Empire waist stuff would be awful on me as it hides my waist completely - surely empire waists are best for apples?

Cropped culottes look great on most shapes imo. With a t shirt or cami tucked in, can be worn with sandals or trainers.

Cropped culotte jeans from M&S, H&M or Me&Em jersey cropped palazzo pants with cotton or linen jumpers from Jigsaw, Free People and Hush.
Looking forward to wearing my linen ones if we ever have a summer.

Sorry ,but that parachute dress is the equivalent of a muumuu.

OP If you think you will feel good in the parachute dress, go for it. I am slim but like a PP, still bottom heavy. Thankfully I still have a waist, when I wear a good bra. I would not wear the parachute dress.

For work I tend to wear cropped straight-leg or maybe wide-leg trousers and a more fitted top, tucked in. Plus or minus a blazer or jacket.
Or a no-gathers-at-the-waist midi skirt and tee. Or a waisted dress. I find other stories good this year for that kind of thing. Or Tooshop. With midi length, I find that too much ‘swing’ on the skirt makes me look even more hippy. So look for the Goldilocks combination of length and fabric. And a leg split breaks it up a bit too.

At all costs avoid those satin bias-cut midi skirts that are everywhere. Eek. Esp if you have weight at the top of your thighs. But try on try on try on.

I wear tapered trousers in a light soft fabric like these with vest tops or tshirts and then a cardy/denim jacket/biker jacket depending on the weather. They look great with flip flops/ballet pumps and are cool in the heat. I have loads in different colours and patterns. You can get plain black ones too. Next do something similar.

www.matalan.co.uk/product/detail/s2712664_c101/floral-tapered-trousers-black

I also have lots of nice dresses (always nipped in at the waist as if you have a bigger bottom half it looks crap if you wear baggy or straight up and down outfits). This one is really nice (looks better in real life!) www.gap.co.uk/on/demandware.store/Sites-ShopUK-Site/en_GB/Product-Variation?pid=000468928&dwvar_000468928_color=000468928001&dwvar_000468928_fit=regular

Dresses from Seasalt can be quite flattering I find. I have a couple of Beatrice dresses that I find very comfortable and cool and skim the arse nicely.

I find warehouse good for Jersey maxi and midi dresses, mainly because they are cut small on the top (I am v pear shaped). E.g.
www.warehouse.co.uk/gb/clothing/dresses/cami-button-through-midi-dress/034186.html?dwvar_034186_color=28&cgid=dresses

This dress from fat face is a bit of a stalwart as well- comfy and cool
www.fatface.com/women/clothing/dresses-skirts/connie-jungle-floral-dress/946974.html?dwvar_946974_color=steel&cgid=women-clothing-dresses-and-skirts#start=2

Hope you find something that suits, OP. As a pp said, fashion at the moment is a lot more pear friendly than it’s been in recent years so fingers crossed!

I got several of the same style GAP pretty floral and paisley print skater style cotton dresses from my local GAP outlet recently for under £20 each. I team them with a denim jacket and sandals or white vans. They are quite 90s in style and you could wear a white T-shirt underneath if it was chilly.

I also picked up a couple of pretty dresses in new look quite cheaply recently but had to try on to make sure they suited my shape.