You Deserve Well Made Clothes

Maya Angelou once said “At the end of the day people won't remember what you said or did, they will remember how you made them feel.” I was lucky enough to see her speak once and I came away with an impression that I’d been in the presence of great wisdom. This was back in my college days when I was heavily in the throes of diet culture. Yet I didn’t pay any attention to her not-model-thin body or the specifics of what she was wearing. 

I mention this because when we’re deciding what to wear, too often we don’t think about the general impression we’re going to make. Instead we focus on concealing or working around certain body parts. We’re concerned with hiding our alleged flaws instead of displaying our best qualities.

I’m not saying that we shouldn’t pay attention to our clothing and just wear whatever. Honestly, that used to be my approach and when I look at old photos of myself, I see someone who hated how she looked and didn’t particularly like herself. That was very much not the look I was going for, but there we have it.

When clothes shopping, my main criteria was “not too tight across the hips.” That was very much not a recipe for fabulousness.

I brought Maya Angelou into this because…can you picture any of her outfits? A single one? I did an image search and in every photo I saw a confident woman who knew her worth. I also noticed that no matter what she was wearing, it looked to be of pretty good quality. And that contributed to the overall impression she made. 

Whether we’re going to the office, or a relative’s wedding, or getting together with friends, or running errands, or relaxing at home - what we wear creates a certain vibe. It’s that vibe that others will remember and that we’ll notice when looking in the mirror.

Your clothing can make or break your self image, as well as the image other people have of you. 

We say it a lot around these parts - when your clothes are well made and fit you properly, it makes you both confident and comfortable. It goes beyond not having to constantly adjust your clothing. You get to stop worrying about how you look (finally!) and start thinking about doing your job, or enjoying yourself, or literally anything that isn’t worrying about looking and being good enough.

It’s really important to keep this in mind while shopping for clothes. You might balk at the price of a garment. You can check reviews to see if the item is well made enough to justify the expense. But you’re the only one who can decide that YOU are worth it.

I can talk about Cost Per Wear until I’m cerulean in the face, but that doesn’t mean anything in the face of, “I can’t spend that kind of money on myself.” And by the way, inflation is a doozy. “That kind of money,” is a much smaller amount than it feels like. 

But if you try even just one high quality piece of clothing, you won’t go back to cheaply made fast fashion. Because you’ll see that you deserve it.

Check out our other plus size shopping tips.