New Year, New You: Body Positive Inspired Outfit & Your Own Twist Link Up #4

January 17, 2019 / 49 Comments
This is not a sponsored post.

With the arrival of a new year, so many of us focus on manifesting new and better versions of ourselves. What can we improve in our lives to be healthier, happier, and more productive? How can we feel more confident and more comfortable with who we are in the bodies we have been given? Sure, there is much to be said for proper diet and exercise in maintaining a healthy and productive lifestyle. But there is even more to be said when we can learn to love ourselves completely with every flaw, every bump, bulge, and jiggle, and every crease and wrinkle. Feeling beautiful makes you look beautiful and sometimes it as easy as putting on that magical combination of wardrobe pieces that scream, “I am fabulous because I feel fabulous!”

When Monica chose the theme for this month’s link up, I was actually a little stumped on what I was going to style that was body positive. You see, I get dressed nearly every day with one goal in mind…what am I going to wear today that makes me feel fantastic about myself? Most days, I wear some sort of combination of jeans, a tee shirt, and amazing shoes accessorized in such a way that I bring a whole new meaning to the phrase “I really am just a jeans and tee shirt kind of girl.” But there are other days when ditching my jeans and rocking a dress makes me feel like a damn super hero. And if an outfit makes you feel like a super hero, well then it most definitely epitomizes the concept of body positivity.

Enter the little black dress. What woman doesn’t feel her most powerful, her sexiest, her strongest, her bossiest, most badass self when donning the perfect little black dress? For me, a fit and flare style dress is the way to go cinched with the edgiest of all belt styles, the corset belt. I have amassed a significant collection of corset belts in recent years and there is just something about them that makes me feel…well…invincible. And the fit and flare style dress hugs all the good parts while hiding all the not so good parts creating the illusion that it is all good parts. And that is what body positive is all about…being able to view yourself as an amalgamation of all good parts!

Dress: Thrifted. Similar here and here.
Belt: Torrid (No longer available).
Blazer: Thrifted. Similar here and here.

There is also something very rich and empowering about the color of bordeaux. Especially in a lush fabric like velvet. So I topped off my little black dress with my favorite burgundy velvet blazer that I thrifted over 10 years ago. The color bordeaux radiates nobility and is often a favorite color of people who are considered survivors. Life in Color describes bordeaux as “the color of a woman who knows her worth.” This shade of deep red is quite majestic and signifies dignity, power, respectability, and generosity. Love of this color “speaks of confidence, internal stability, enterprise, love of power and good organizational skills.” But apparently it takes some courage and a fine sense of style to properly combine bordeaux with black. I have to admit that the rich dark shades combined together really speak to my sartorial senses as a very empowering merger of saturated shades.

While it may require some courage to pair black and burgundy together, I do believe that it also requires a certain amount of boldness to pair velvet and lace…especially when it comes to over the knee black lace boots. Let me tell you…these boots make me feel like I can take on the world! I mean, they are black lace and go alllllll the way up. And adding to the body positive feels of this outfit, I must let you know that I could not get these boots up over my calves just 6 weeks ago. Then I finished my 7 Day Healthy Cleanse and inches fell off my body allowing these fancy boots to slide right on! One of the happier moments in my style escapades, that’s for sure.

Boots: Portia Over the Knee Boots from Shoe Dazzle.
Necklace: Happiness Boutique (No loner available).

Do you have any special pieces in your wardrobe that make you feel fabulous and completely body positive? Or maybe it is a certain style of makeup that empowers you? That pair of shoes or that perfect shade of your favorite color? Maybe it is a very special piece of jewelry that just gives you an ethereal glow every time you wear it? Please share these body positive stories with us in the comments. And if you have a post about them, do link it up below. We can all use a little BOPO inspiration every now and then!

Be sure to also head over and check out Monica’s BOPO inspired outfit today. I am loving the colors she chose and that amazing background for her photos. And of course, Monica is kicking some serious ass in those magnificent booties! She also has a very raw and real and important message about body positivity on her blog, so I highly recommend you give it a read! If you want to join us with the upcoming style prompts, you can find them right below. But remember, you can link any outfit or style or self-empowering post that you’d like even if it doesn’t follow the theme.

Keeping it body positive on the edge,

Shelbee

Linking up with these Fabulous Link Ups.

I am a midlife woman, wife, and stay-at-home mother of 2 boys and 2 cats. I have a passion for helping other women feel fabulous in the midst of this crazy, beautiful life.

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