The search for style...

I think the hardest thing I have had to come to terms with as a mum has been the total change of my body shape.

Ok, not being allowed to sleep in till midday on a Sunday has been pretty hard to deal with too, but I'll get over it...

So back to body shape... It's changed. Things aren't where they used to be. Mostly they have been covered up with  layer of blubber - there are soft, squishy bits where there never used to be and as for my boobs - well you know, small boobs really aren't so bad. I used to be able to go bra-free without attracting too much attention but these days I require a full-scale scaffolding system just to keep them in place!

But the worse bit by far is my tummy.

In the old days (B.C. before child) I was a proper pear shape - slightly bottom heavy with curvy hips and a waist that went right in! And it was level with my belly button. Muffin top still happened but I could almost eliminate it by standing up straight and sucking in a bit! I could almost get away with wearing a bikini in public.
Now I still have a waist but it seems to have risen a couple of inches and only shows itself to the world when the boobs are hoisted up and the Gok Wan slicker knickers come out of drawer. Most of my excess couple of stone seem to be on my tummy transforming my pear shape to an apple shape. I simply cannot wear the same things I used to wear and whilst I plan on losing at least some of the flabby stuff eventually, right now it's in the way and I am utterly clueless on how best to dress to hide it...

Which is where iStylista comes in. Imagine having a virtual stylist and personal shopper tailored to your body shape, build, colouring and even face shape - just key in a few details about yourself and a 30 page guide giving you essential, sound fashion advice on styles and colours to suit you is yours to download and refer to whenever you need it. Plus you can opt to have regular e-mails with selected items picked just for you sent to your inbox to help you decide what to spend your hard earned cash on.

I thought I would give it a go and now have a palette of colours to work from, key shapes to look out for and some style tricks to take the eye away from the bits I don't want you to see and focus on the bits I DO want to show off. Some of it I already knew, some of it surprised me and I was pleased to learn that I am one of the lucky ones who CAN wear black (just not top to toe and not to the exclusion of everything else...)

I found iStylista via Mummy Central and for a short time they have teamed up with iStylista to offer their readers a free style guide (worth £30) so why not pop along and try it out.

Meanwhile I shall be looking out for that perfect wrap around top and some cute wedge sandals...