Styling myself for work this autumn

[LadyPiglet]

I have gained an enormous amount of weight in the last year - I've gone up to 11 stone 5 and I'm only 5 foot 2! This has knocked my confidence for six.

I'm planning to start ozempic but I need a wardrobe that works for me right now. I have a job which requires me to be very smart (I'm a lawyer) quite a lot of the time.

What sort of styles should I wear? Should I be looking at

• skirts or trousers, and if so high waist and wide or tapered? What sorts of materials?
• silk shirts, cotton or tshirts under jumpers/jackets?
• dresses and if so what style?

I have a narrow ish waist with a massive arse and v wide hips. Bust is huge too (34gg), but my shoulders, ribs and waist are still quite narrow.

I'm 40, and used to pride myself on being stylish, but that feels a long time ago now!

I’m sure unexpected weight gain must be challenging - but presumably you’re now a size 12 or 14? I don’t quite see why that necessitates a whole different style of dressing - particularly in a formal setting.

If you wore silk or cotton shirts or blouses before, you can still do so. You buy a bigger size and have them tailored to fit. With skirts and trousers, again, buy what looks smart and contemporary, with proportions that look good in your mirror. It may require some experimentation, but that shouldn’t be particularly arduous.

It may be that for the moment separates are easier to manage than dresses as the latter may require more extensive alteration to fit both your upper and lower halves equally well - but again, it’s a matter of experimentation.

Where did you buy your current working wardrobe? Are you not comfortable buying larger sizes from those sources?

What sort of budget are you thinking of?

I do honestly think that as long as you have a reliable alterations service and are meticulous about using them, you shouldn’t find it impossible to take this in your stride.

When I was size 20 before I lost 5 stone on mounjaro I found smart trousers and a longer length blazer looked best on me. With nice accessories scarves, jewellery, Im much the same shape as you small waist, big bum.
Get the waists, sleeve lengths altered by a seamstress. I still do at size 12. When clothes are fitted they look so much better and more professional.

I am a similar height and had gained quite a lot of weight (for a small frame) after maternity leave and faced a similar dilemma. I have now lost it using weight loss injections so wishing you all the best with that. For me at a similar height that weight puts me into a size 14 borderline 16 dress size.

I found M&S high waisted trousers quite flattering and comfortable. The carrot and barrel legs I thought were flattering. & Other Stories do lovely silk shirts.

Shirt midi dresses are also great I find. Particularly once you start losing weight because you can still wear them but your trousers might suddenly start falling down - this happened to me!