Style Diary: This Purple Power Suit Helped Boost My Confidence
- Plus-size fashion often feels like a humiliating experience, with ill-fitting and outdated options.
- Wearing a lavender suit helped the author feel powerful and authentic while moderating a professional panel.
- Focusing on comfort, color, and quality of the outfit allowed the author to be present and engaged during the event.
Power suit options can be any color. I recently showed up to a work event in a lavender suit that reminded me that pastels can be powerful.
My colleague Fatou Barry asked me to moderate a panel for the PR Girl Manifesto Behind The Byline series, and my first thought was “What am I going to wear?”
The question was not an easy one, because as a size 3X, professional fits are difficult to find for me.
Plus-Size Power Dressing
The problem? Shopping for plus-size fashion these days feels like a unique humiliation ritual. It has never been easy, but the return of #thinspiration has obliterated what little progress the industry made previously.
So many of the items on the market are ill-fitting and outdated that it can make you want to give up. I was NOT trying to wear a tacky tent covered in asymmetrical flowers.
Behind The Byline brings together people I work with on the daily with people I’m trying to work with on the daily. I had to come correct.
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Before adding to cart, I shopped my closet, something I’m doing more and more in this shady economy. I found a lavender suit from Ulla Popken that I was inspired to buy after seeing it on Sarah Chiwaya, an influencer I’ve been following for years.
The suit didn’t arrive in my closet as a set.
Its pants went on sale first. I bought those with a lavender and shamrock coat, I wore that outfit to a fashion event at the Newark Museum of Art.
I kept an eye on the jacket that matched the pants until a sale hit and circled back for it. Then I banished the suit to the back of my closet, waiting for the pants look to work its way to the bottom of my Instagram feed. Plus-size girls always have to plan in advance.
Professionalism Is What You Make It
Typical “power suits” are usually deeper colors, but this soft shade whispered “boss” to me. It was the perfect look to combat my nerves about hosting a panel of people I looked up to, including former award-winning journalist Kaitlyn McNab, digital director at Teen Vogue, Alyssa Hardy, and Deputy Editor & Head of Entertainment at InStyle, Jonathan Borge.
The room was filled with public relations professionals I wanted to impress. My journey as a creator is tied to my personal taste level. I wanted to give chic as well as competent.
That couldn’t be done without authenticity, so pastels it was.
Generally, I avoid light colors when speaking, but the suit was really easy to clean. It was also easy to move in, something I prioritize in outfits I have to wear in public because I am clumsy. When it comes to my Tide to-go stick, I keep that thing on me.
I paired the suit with a sheer turtle neck covered with mutli-colored water lilies I found in my storage unit. Sheer turtlenecks don’t automatically give “return to office,” but rocking it underneath the suit ensured that everything stayed cute and covered.
Square toed boots from Eloquii gave me a little height.
I was planning on getting boho braids and booking a gg did nothing to change that because braids are always professional attire to me. . I just knew that they would look great flowing over the side of the suit’s lapels. Boho braids are versatile. They belong in boardrooms and at the beach.
They’re just as stylish as a bust-down or a silk press in my book.
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Ditching DIY
Wearing what I wanted helped me stay in the moment. When they put the microphone in my hand, I was able to really lock in on a conversation about how the creative industry is changing without adjusting my clothing.
Because I didn’t have to spring for a new outfit, I splurged on having a terrific makeup artist come to my house at 6 am to help me show up as my best self.
She crafted a daytime look that complemented my suit without overpowering it using a combination of products from Danessa Myricks, Morphe, and Juvia’s Place. I’m usually very matchy, matchy, but I loved the way she designed a face that could take me from center stage to my teaching gig.
I’m obsessed with colored water lines, and she picked up the emerald on my top with green liner. I added green crystal earrings from Amazon to add even more green.
Corner lashes were added before she sealed the look with the new Juvia’s Place setting spray.
The look lasted ALL DAY, through a celebratory lunch, a late-night class, and an hour-long Uber ride home. More than 12 hours later I didn’t have much more than a slightly shiny nose to speak for my marathon of a day.
I might have been wearing a suit that I caught on sale and stuffed in the back of my closet, but a beat face and feminine color palette made me feel more luxurious than I have in a long while.
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Style Diary: This Purple Power Suit Helped Boost My Confidence was originally published on hellobeautiful.com
