Finally tackling appearance in my 30s, please help as am clueless!

[DreamingofItaly2023]

My first time venturing onto Style and Beauty as I finally want to find a way of dressing that suits me but I need help as I have no dress sense whatsoever. Any help very much appreciated.

I am in my early 30s and a SAHM living rurally so need to be relatively practical but am tired of throwing on any old thing. DS is now an age where he won’t smear anything on me and I have more than 5 minutes to shower and dress in the morning so this feels like a good time.

I am 177cm tall with 34G breasts and fairly wide hips. Currently size 12 but aim to be back to a size 10 by Christmas as currently my BMI is just into the overweight category. I find my figure really hard to dress as what fits over my breasts tends to then swamp the rest of me. I also have a long torso which makes things harder as waists etc don’t sit in the right place.

I almost exclusively wear dresses as struggle with the feel of waistbands but would consider trousers etc if they had a flexible waistband. I suit cool colours such as blues and purples best I think.

My current wardrobe is tiny and has been worn day after day for years and almost everything I own has small holes in or is faded or shapeless etc so I plan to build an entire new wardrobe from scratch.

The one thing I know I want is the Fantasie Fusion bra as it is the comfiest I have ever worn but beyond that I am at a loss. Any suggestions for the type of clothes that would suit me would be much appreciated. Thank you :)

Welcome to style and beauty, it is on the whole a lovely and supportive space. Ignore the odd judgemental person that happens upon your thread, I think they lurk to get a kick out of being mean. That aside, I was browsing the Kibbe body/face shape method this week after reading about it on here. For me it helped me understand why I have finally found my style after 40 odd years but I wish I had found it sooner. I don’t have your body shape (no boobs) but someone will be along soon who does. Good luck

I have a similar figure although I am shorter. I'm also long in the body with broad hips and big boobs.

In my experience there are certain things that definitely do and don't work for me.

I need a lower neckline: crew neck doesn't flatter me.

Voluminous tops do nothing for me however much I might want them to.

I need fitted clothes and absolutely key is having the right length. I need tops tucked in or that finish at the top of my hip. Any longer is awful. Thus is true also of coats and jackets. Mine are waist length or knee length.

I wear a lot if dresses but they have to fit my rib cage. I'll post a picture of the shape I mean.

short sleeves do nothing for me. Most of my tops are elbow or 3/4 length.

A common outfit for me is 7/8 cigarette trousers, tucked in blouse or fitted top, flats.

M and S are doing lots of little knitted tops at the moment that suit me. I just bought this and this ( the sleeves seem longer on mine) for autumn work.

Similar shape jeans / top for outside work.

This sort of shape dress but without the tier which doesn't suit my hips. Nobody's Child do slot but they can be tight or revealing across the chest.

Channel a wee bit of Marilyn

What about wrap dresses? Comfy and smart.

What about wrap dresses? Comfy and smart.

Thank you for the welcome and I will check the kibbe thing, I haven’t heard of that before.

Thanks Meryl you sound very similar shape wise to me so good to know what works for you, I really like the dress you posted and it wouldn’t have occurred to me that that could work for me so thank you.

I do like a wrap dress sunnie but often find them too revealing with my boobs and have to wear a top underneath which then ruins the dress. If anyone knows of ones that don’t reveal lots of cleavage on big boobs please let me know! Are there any particular brands/shops worth looking at? Am happy to pay a bit more for something that will really suit and last. At the moment I wear quite a bit of sea salt as I find them quite generous over the boobs.

I am a similar shape to you. Shirt dresses or dresses with a belt or drawstring look best on me. Most other shapes pull across the chest and I agree that wrap dresses are too revealing!

For casual I wear jeans and cashmere sweaters in winter, merino in spring and autumn and simple tshirts in summer.

M&S and Fatface often fit me well. Strangely I find seasalt is often to tight on chest.

Would vintage suit you do you think? Collectif have a lot of dresses that cinch at the waist then flare out which might help with shaping?

Welcome @DreamingofItaly2023! I had a big wardrobe shake-up this year and found it really helpful to add anything I liked the look of to a wish list (I tend to buy from H&M, Zara and Asos for everyday clothes) then whittle down from there - it helped me out of a rut of buying the same shapes all the time.

I absolutely love the photo of Marilyn @MerylSqueak posted; French straight jeans, brown boots and a slightly oversized linen shirt perhaps, if you’re outdoorsy?

Thanks jump I will give shirt dresses a try :)

Will my height be alright for Vintage do you think sheffield? Am aware that women tended to be shorter but definitely will take a look :)

Thank you jadoube a wish list is a fab idea as I often see something I like and then forget about it.

Hi I think Collectif is 'vintage' style rather than from that era, but it often has the skirt length on it so you can see

Ah fab sheffield will take a look :)