Courtesy Allison Teng
Welcome Allison Teng, 26, of Curvy Girl Chic, who is joining us as our resident plus-size style blogger. She was featured in the March issue of PEOPLE StyleWatch and will be contributing regularly to the site. This week, she’s all about the right mindset for getting dressed to perfection. Leave any questions you have in the comments!
Figure-flattery is great, but it’s definitely not everything. When I put together an outfit, I’m thinking, “Does this make me feel awesome?” rather than, “Does this make me look skinny?”
Take this outfit, for example: My shirt is totally slouchy, oversized and — let’s face it — not exactly figure-enhancing. But who cares? I love it anyway. It’s breezy and casual, and the fabric has magical non-wrinkling properties. I also like that it’s a longer length. A lot of shirts can be cut kind of short, and since plus-size women often have a larger chest or a belly, their shirts end up hitting higher on the torso than intended.
To balance out the proportion, I paired the shirt with a short body-con skirt. I grew up practicing martial arts and dance, so I’ve always had relatively toned legs (you should see how well I do in kickball!). I like showing them off, so I’d pick a short skirt over pants almost any day. You don’t have to have supermodel-esque legs to wear a mini — to me, it’s a piece anyone can wear. It’s not about your size.
The finishing touch: Chunky heels that have these cool gold T-straps. They do nothing to elongate my legs (isn’t that what everyone says you’re supposed to do?), but I think they’re so cool, and I wear them with everything from skinny jeans to my favorite LBD.
Do you agree with her wear-what-you-want philosophy? Would you try this outfit? Tell us in the comments!
