Get some help...

Find that dressing yourself when going clothing shopping is difficult? No problem. There are actually places that are more than willing to help you pick out what is right for you, the one I gave a shot was Banana Republic. They sent me an email telling me about a free service called a, "style appointment" where basically I went onto their website and requested a date and time. After a day or two they'll email you with a set of questions to get a good idea of what you need (in my case, versatile work clothes that could also be worn on weekends) and your size, you then get the option of having your stylist pick out some clothes for you before you get there (I chose to have mine do that).

When I got there she already had several sets of things that mixed and matched extremely well set aside in a fitting room (in a set of closed off fitting rooms). She took me in and explained why she picked everything, showed me what looked good with what and how it can be worn for weekend or work. She then took me around the store to see if anything else jumped out at me or if she hadn't addressed a certain item I thought I'd need for my wardrobe. We picked out a wrap dress, and a blazer as the only things that were missing from her spectrum of items. After trying everything on together I realized that most everything she had picked (while I would not have picked it for myself) fit me really well, were flattering and it all mixed and matched easily and nicely.

Unfortunately, it looks like their website doesn't have all the wonderful things she picked out for me. However, I tried to get together as much as I could so people can get an idea of what looks good. She started off with two basics, two skirts to build upon. The first skirt was the one to the right, in dark brown the second skirt was the one on the left in Navy blue. Both skirts were very comfortable, were flattering and fit true to size. With those two basics down we had some pieces to build off of.

From there we picked tops that could go from work to weekend by either being tucked in or being worn with a blazer or cardigan.

To begin with we looked for wrap tops, found two, one printed and another a basic color.


Those looked great paired with the blazer and cardigan she picked out for mixing and matching. However, while I liked the blazer I found it a little too expensive, though it was a fabulous fit. I just didn't need to invest in a suit blazer, I chose to bypass that purchase and bought a blazer at H&M for a much lower price.
The cardigan, however, was light and airy very good for a cold spring morning but still thin and comfortable enough for the rest of the day. It's also made out of an extremely soft fabric. Nice!


From there we moved on to more fun tops that would be considered really feminine but paired with the correct pieces could looks structured for work.
Such as this flowy top when paired (and tucked in)
with the brown tie waist skirt.


Or these extremely comfortable luxe tanks, that layer well with everything, including the blazer or cardigan up above.
But they also pair well with this cardigan and sweater (the blue sweater incidentally looks AWESOME with the blue pencil skirt, not tucked in)

From there I tried on their faux wrap dress which ran too small and was not very flattering on a big hipped girl like me. She then randomly found another top that I might love. She knew it would work with the pencil skirt and a cardigan, and I did love it. It had a nice A line so it flattered my hips when I wore it jeans but tucked into the pencil skirt nicely and flattered a nice cardigan.

As after thoughts I tried the non iron button up shirt (runs a little small so size up) it was very flattering and looked very nice with the brown skirt.

All the shirts I tried looked fabulous with their trouser Jean.













And that folks is how you dress a 23 year old professional with big hips! =D