By Ann-Marie Proudfoot
Dear Ask the Stylist
I have my brother-in-laws wedding in France and don’t know what to wear. I am 29, 5’2″ in height, a size 12 (just lost 2 1/2 stone) and just after my 3rd baby, so still have a “jelly belly”.
I would say my problem areas are my thighs and stomach and I usually wear black but want to wear something that says wow. Please help! D.R.
As it’s a destination wedding in France, you’ll be banking on good weather and so can go for something other than black.
A dress with a cinched in waist and which flares out from the waist and finishes at your knee is what you need.
The designer Azzedine Alaia’s fit and flare beige dress (Havana Boutique in Donnybrook, Dublin) is chic and timeless with a great cut.
Awear have a gorgeous high street version with their flared belted dress (€65) which comes in stone (pictured), yellow or navy and is just the perfect knee length. Just accessorise in the colour that the belt comes in.
The stone shade is a neutral nude colour that suits most (with the help of some tan perhaps), is on trend and can be dressed up with red accessories.
If you do find yourself leaning towards black, then go for the navy option in the Awear style – navy is so much better than black on Irish skin tones, trust me!
Alternatives to this, if you have good “above the knee” legs, is this fit and flare dress, again from Awear (€58), which also comes in “mango” or dusty pink. Both colours and styles are reminiscent of Victoria Beckham’s dresses (pictured), available from Brown Thomas for €1000+.
"Mango" dress €58 Awear
Tackling a jelly belly
With regard to the jelly belly, there’s no better good “suck in” solution than control underwear. Spanx is great, as is the new control underwear range from marks and spencers.
The best one, in my opinion, is the power body shaper by Ultimo (€62 at Debenhams). It flattens the tummy, slims the hips, smoothes the thighs and lifts the bum and looks like Spanx but has straps, (you you can still wear your own bra with it) which means that there’s no “overspill” or muffin top which you get with the shorts style of control underwear!
If the dress is a shorter length, just make sure you take the dress along with you when buying the control underwear, as you don’t want the shorts to be longer than the dress hem.
Enjoy the wedding!
As well as contributing to WSW, Ann-Marie Proudfoot is a stylist over at Proudfoot Style.
G0t a style conundrum? Email us at stylist@whatshewears.ie and we’ll sort you out!
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May 4, 2011 at 9:56 pm
That dress is a find!
May 6, 2011 at 5:22 pm
The Lady said she is 5 2 so I don’t think that dress by victoria’s design would do her any justice.
August 5, 2011 at 5:39 am
how should she accessorise this dress- shoes bag jewelrry and all
August 5, 2011 at 8:29 pm
For the A-wear nude dress you can accessories with a lot of colours because it is a neutral shade. You can team it a red bag to go with the belt. Navy or nude shoes with work well as you don’t want to overkill with too much red.
For the mango flared dress – navy accessories would work really nice with some gold jewellery.