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Boost Your Body Confidence – My Top Tips

When it comes to dressing I believe that knowledge is power.

The more you can understand what does and doesn’t work for you, the easier shopping for clothes and dressing your frame will be. However, with the sea of information that is now available to us, simply defining which body shape you have, let alone understanding how to dress it, can be overwhelming. 

In The Style Sanctuary next month I’m going to be taking my members through the process of defining their body shape, proportions and scale, with guidelines on what will work best for them. I know this will help them to navigate which fabrics, silhouettes and styles of clothing will work for them (as well as help them understand their best accessories, print sizes and placement too).

There are however some universal tips that I give to everyone I meet to help them dress their body’s better which have absolutely nothing to do with their shape or size BUT will guarantee great results, and I wanted to share them with you in this week’s post.

If you feel a bit overwhelmed and bewildered when it comes to dressing your shape, then read on…

When I meet them for the first time I find most of my clients will not only tell me what they don’t like about their body, but also apologise for it. Most will dress to hide these perceived flaws and shop for items they feel cover them up.

If this sounds like you then I’m going to ask you a question that may be hard to answer…

“What’s your favourite part of your physical appearance?”

During a client session this simple question has left many stumped. Most of us never think about what we LIKE about our body’s, we’re too busy focusing on what we do not like.   

But here’s the thing – if you start to dress to focus on the positives you will automatically detract from the negatives.

So the first step to finding outfits you love and feel great in is to falling in love with your body. Not only will this make the whole experience of shopping for clothes and getting dressed more enjoyable, it will also improve your perception of your own body and will ultimately boost your confidence (and confidence is key to any great outfit, trust me.)

Here are a couple of quick examples to demonstrate how this can work…
 
You love your… neck/decolletage 
Opt for V necks (universally flattering) with some detail or pattern. If you prefer block colours add a necklace or earrings to draw attention to this area.
 
Your love your… legs
Hello fabulous footwear, skirts/dresses and trousers/jean styles that show the shape of your legs.
 
Guess what? Wherever you put pattern/detail/accessories/colour si where the eye will be drawn; both when you look in the mirror and when others look at you. Therefore, concentrating on the positives will automatically detract from the areas you’re not so keen on.
 
And talking of the negatives – don’t put anything in these areas that will draw the eye. This will usually mean darker colours, no zips/pockets/buckles etc. If there’s nothing interesting in these areas then there’s no reason anyone will be looking at them.
Alongside viewing your body from a more positive perspective I would also encourage you to review your social media feed and un-follow any accounts that don’t make you feel good. Whilst we all know about filters and photoshopping, it can be difficult to remember that so much of what we see online isn’t actually real.
 
There are some amazing body-positive accounts online (@danamercer  and @alexlight_ldn are two of my favourites. Following accounts like @nicknacklou also give me a whole new appreciation for all that my body does for me and how lucky I am to be healthy. She is simply awe-inspiring and really puts things into perspective in terms of physical appearance and the respect and love our bodies truly deserve.
 
We all have bits of our bodies we’re not so keen on. It’s normal.
 
I think what is so important to remember though is that our bodies are truly amazing and the fact we all come in different shapes and sizes should be celebrated – LOUDLY!
 
The more we can make peace with our physical appearance the more we can enjoy all our bodies do for us (and enjoy dressing them too!)
 
Not only this, but we can also pass this confidence and body positivity to our fellow female friends, sisters, mothers, aunts and daughters. Just imagine for a second a world where we all felt comfortable in our own skin and dressed however we wanted, confident in the knowledge that as long as we feel good, that’s truly all that matters.
 
I hope today’s post has given you a little food for thought, until next time.
Anna xo
 

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During February we’ll be focusing on body shapes & how to dress to flatter your proportions.

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