replace my wardrobe

I am in the beginning phase of losing a lot of weight (I don’t have a goal weight, I just know that I need to lose more than 100). I started my freshman year of college, got depressed, came back home, miss it a lot, regret missing the opportunity to go to school for absolutely nothing, and now I’m ready to go back. I’ve finally decided on a career. I’ve been at my job for 6 years and I have received several pay raises, now I want the top spot of Program Director and in order to get there I need to dress the part.

I have excellent taste and I have style to spare but I’m not comfortable enough with my body and I don’t have the funds to replace everything in my closet. So, for the rest of this season (ending next month) I’m going to do the best I can and look as professional as I possibly can. Over the summer I’m going to lose a bunch of weight so I’ll have to replace my clothes, and when I do that it’s going to be nice, clean, professional clothing. When I go back to work in the fall I want to go back dressing like someone who my boss can look at as a potential candidate for a program director in the next few years.

Well I’m half way there!! Last week I replaced all my worn out summer clothes and will be doing fall/winter when the stores change over for the season. I’m also sporting a brand new “do” -far different from the photo. Looks pretty good!

I’ll mark this “accomplished” in August after I buy fall/winter clothes!

I would love to throw out every piece of clothing I own and start fresh… and can afford to do that – BUT – I need a professional to shop with me. I don’t know where to look to find profession help – like clothing guru’s Stacey and Clinton on TLC’s “What Not To Wear.”

It’s hard to find clothing at the mall that is of good quality and fits well – with the exception of a few very pricy stores like Neiman Marcus. I have a hard time justifying spending $150 on a cotton dress shirt. I did buy a blazer from the clearance rack a few years ago – $40 marked down from $295.

And… I’m a designers nightmare. I have a “Lane Bryant” top and a “misses” bottom, so that rules out dresses and two piece sets. And forget tucking a shirt in unless it’s been professionally tailored. I end up with wads of material at the waist. When I was younger, prior to middle aged spread, I wore a size 9 pants and a size 18-20 top. I shopped in regular sizes and at Lane Bryant. At least now that I’ve aged, and gained a little weight, the bottom is catching up with the top a bit… and now it’s all Lane Bryant. LOL!

When I do buy clothes, I wear them only a few times before giving them away. Once I get them home, I decide I’m not exactly thrilled with the way they fit, or don’t have anything that really matches well. So I haven’t bought any new clothes in about a year except for a pair of pants and dress shirt to wear on interviews (and I did get a job). And finding conservative plus size clothing can be a chore too. Lately, most of the things they carry at Lane Bryant seems to be for teen girls… nothing I would wear… and I hate shopping out of a catalog since things never look the same once you get them.

I’m destined to be a fashion disaster.