My First Dia Box!

I got my first Dia Box today. I am going to go over the process here with others if you have no idea what this is. Dia is a Subscription shopping service for plus size women. I am generally a 12 or 14, but wanted to give it a go in an effort to get more business casual and professional outfits. I tend to go a bit more gothy than is probably usually acceptable.

When you sign up, you are asked different questions in your "Style Profile". Here are some of the questions alongside my answers:

Then they ask: "Is there anything else that you want to tell us?" And I wrote:
I'm mostly looking for business casual clothing that doesn't show off my bust and is at the knee or below to comply with dresscode restrictions. However, I want something that accurately reflects my personality. I work in IT, so I can show off personality in  my wardrobe just fine, it just needs to generally read as professional but flamboyant. I am not really into neutrals or pastels. I typically go for a black or gray paired with a bright splash of color. Think "Corporate Goth".

Today, I got my first box. It is shipped via USPS. Here is what the box looked like:

And right when I opened it:

Here are the pieces I got in this box:

An orange/brick red faux wrap top with half sleeves and relaxed, flowy waist paired with a heavy but stretchy black pencil skirt.

A soft, flowy, loose wasited top.

Tight, thick, stretchy jeans.

A huge and colorful scarf.

 The Jeans Brand is Junarose.

The skirt brand is Eloquii.

The t-shirt brand is Neri Skye.

The twist top brand is Kiyonna.

The scarf brand is Printed Village.

Here are the responses I input on their website for feedback:

Keira Bootcut Jeans:

Comments:
The size was fine for the most part. The thighs had a bit of rippling when I sit. Otherwise, were comfortable standing, sitting, and bending. The length was good. The color was good. The fabric (a heavy yet stretchy material) was perfect. I liked that the front pockets were real. Though they were a bit small for pockets, but I'm happy they had any!

Mary Skirt:

Comments:
I don't have many pencil skirts because I have been weird about showing off my butt and hips in the workplace. But I realize that I look nice in them and that others wear them and still look nice and professional. So I am glad this is an item that was sent. I like the heavy stretchy material. The hidden zipper at the bottom to adjust the back slit is an interesting and unique idea.

Kiyonna Knit Jersey Twist Top:

Comments:
I hate this color. Anything remotely orange or yellow is right out. This could probably be called Brick Red, but it is too much orange for me. The fit was fine. The fabric is nice and soft. But it was too much $ for all that it was. I actually have this same brand of top, same style (but w/o sleeves) in olive that I bought at the thrift store for $5, so I might be biased.

Harper Lattice Tee:

Comments:
This shirt fit great. It was definitely my style and color. But the quality did not match the price. Also, I found it a bit sheer. So would have to wear another top underneath in order to wear to work. I liked how soft it was. But I feel like I have this same shirt already in my wardrobe.

Katy Scarf:

Comments:
I loved: The size of the scarf. How soft it was. And the geometric pattern. I hated: the orange color in this. If this had been blue/green/purple/red, I would have kept it. But I really do hate orange that much.

Overall:

Comments:
I would love a top to go with the pencil skirt from this box. I like ruffly blouses, geometric patterns rather than floral, and interesting details. Unusual necklines and embellishments are nice.  My favorite colors are blue & green. I am not into "what's in-fashion" so much as what looks good on me, looks professional, and retains my personality. I tend to like textured clothing or very soft clothing. I'm more looking for work clothes than casual.



If anyone thinks this is interesting, please use my referral code. It gets me $20 off my next box. Not huge, but pretty nice: https://www.dia.com/r/qqe3

If this doesn't work out, I have a few other ideas from friends of my own who have had success. I have been giving these subscription services 3 tries before getting rid of them. My last one was Sephora. I will post about that another time!

Dressing a long torso

I'm not a short lady at all. I am 5' 10". But compared to my Other who is the same height, I have a much longer torso. That is to say, standing side-by-side, we are the same overall height but his hip goes up much farther than mine does. He is long legged, I am long torso'd. You can play up or play down your physical attributes easily depending on the type of clothing you wear. Today I'm going to address one that I specifically deal with on a day to day basis because I have one! How to dress a long torso!

Okay, first off, let's see some side by side comparisons. Here is me and Tony showing off our hip height.

Ok, he may be about an inch taller than me, but no more than. And yet his butt sits on top of my butt. He has long legs, I have a long torso. Hilariously, we have a very similar walking stride (when I am not wearing heels or have an injured knee).


Make it look like your legs are longer:
Wear high waisted pants or skirts with a shorter top. Possibly even a cropped jacket. If you can get pants that are high waisted and go all the way to the ground, even better. I mean, you don't want them dragging (though I sometimes am guilty of this - only when my pants waist are too big, I swear!) but a little gather on the top of your shoe won't kill you. Making your bottom half have more fabric on it creates the illusion that you are covering more leg even if you aren't. You are hiding that long torso! Some fashionistas will also recommend a pointed toe shoe. As tall as I am, I skip this option. Plus I find pointy shoes to be uncomfortable.

Left: I'm wearing a high waisted (damn near underbust) skirt while Sarah is wearing straight up underbust JSK. Both of us have seemingly super long legs! 
Right: My short vest and high skirt make me look like I'm longer on the bottom than I actually am.

Above: Even a floor length skirt works here because visually it mixes in with the corset. The white top is small, breaking up my long torso.


I also don't normally wear belts to work, but a belt worn high (I'm high waisted in addition to being long waisted) helps create the illusion of a longer leg. I also find wearing a belt helps define my waist, but again, that might be more because I'm high waisted than anything. It helps define the difference between my under bust and waist (which actually aren't that different).

Above: I find that I can get away with wearing some pretty short skirts because it makes my legs look normal to long in length when compared to my long waist.My boots are making my legs look a *little* stumpy in this example. Heels/Heeled boots would have been better.



Make it look like you are proportioned:
Wear a shirt that goes a little longer. Usually touching the top of your hips. Wear pants that are hemmed appropriately, basically just down to the top of your shoe when standing. The longer shirt is going to hide your long belly and the normal pants are well, just normal. Longer shirts are actually really easy to get right now, they seem pretty popular. I see tunics everywhere. If you can't find them, you can shop for tall shirts but good luck. I can normally only find pants in tall. Petite ladies have it made, I swear! Sorry I can't find a pic of me in a tunic. They aren't my thing really. I like making my legs look longer.


Don't hide your long torso at all:
This should be the easiest option as most normal shirts aren't going to fit you! You will find your belly button is easily visible and doesn't meet the top of your pants. Even when you didn't buy a cropped top/jacket. If you want to embrace your long torso, then do so! I personally have a handful of shirts I probably should never wear with low waisted pants, but sometimes I do. These normal shirts usually function as a crop anyway, and simply by changing to a higher waisted pant, you've balanced yourself out. One thing I'd probably advise against is to wear is capris that stop between the knee and ankle. They look a bit goofy. Again, I have some, but I try to avoid wearing them in public.

See how normal shirts just don't quite cover my belly? Whatever, the outfit still looks good.

 In retrospect, these wide leg capris were a bad idea.

Intro to Fashion

This will more than likely be my first installment of many on my personal style and clothing choices.

As some of my readers may know already, I like clothes. A lot. I also like a variety of different styles of clothes. And even fashion styles I wouldn’t personally wear, I can usually appreciate for the very fact that they at least are well put together. What you wear on the outside can convey many different things about your personality, so I feel it is important to choose your personal style and do it well. I respect anyone committed to their outfit or fashion style.

Fashion styles I like:

Steampunk, Lolita, Cyberpunk, Goth, Pin Up, Post-Apocalypse, Haute Couture

I walk around and observe what people wear. I also take mental notes of what my coworkers wear. I like seeing the different trends unfold even if I don't participate in them. Usually it is obvious someone cares about their clothes as they will have a pretty well defined day-to-day style. My work clothing style is admittedly pretty bland, generic and office worker-y. I very purposefully wear simple and modest clothing to work. I do not want to stick out (I already have long green hair and my height for that thanks), I do not want to look sexy, and I do want to convey a sense of typical and normality.

Why would I do that? Well, my job calls for conformity and I like to keep my work and personal lives separate. I am pretty outspoken, so I use my clothes to try to detract from that fact. I think I’m pretty hot, but the workplace is not the appropriate venue for showing off your goods and trying to get a date. There is a time, a place, and an outfit for everything.

Here’s me in my normal boring work attire today. Gray pants, black shirt, black shoes. Purposefully boring.

Now, just because I want to convey a certain message with my clothes does not mean I have to dress in something unflattering or something I hate. This is something I slowly had to come to learn myself. I used to wear work clothes I normally wouldn’t be caught dead in on the weekends. Either they weren’t my style at all or they were totally unflattering. The key is to figure out what your style is and apply the right level of it to where you are going. So if you are goth or steampunk, you can’t usually come to an office job in full Kit, you have to tone it down a bit. There’s almost always a way to water down your style to make it applicable to the venue.

Full Steampunk vs. Steam Office

 
Left, I am wearing too many belts for this to be a passable work outfit for a professional office environment. I'm also wearing boots which I think would be pushing it. The shirt, vest & skirt would be alright though. And minus the vest wouldn't be bad at all if I got too hot. The skirt is wool, so that's totally a possibility

Right (and I know this isn't the best quality picture), I am wearing an outfit that I'd normally accessorize differently if I were wearing it for a steampunk event. The jacket is black with white pinstripes (I love pinstripe) and is great for steampunk. I usually pair it with a skirt though when I'm not wearing it to the office. The top is a simple black tank that can pretty much go with anything. And the black stretch pants I'd usually wear with a bunch of unnecessary belts for steampunk but didn't here. 





Basically, work steampunk for me usually means discarding a lot of accessories and dressing more conservatively. I also don't wear skirts to work, but that is a personal choice that I don't like showing my body off at work.

As you can tell, there’s always some way to incorporate your personal style into everyday clothing. Just be sure the clothing fits your body and fits your style and you should be an awesome and confident well dressed person!

Since this is only the first entry on this subject, I will leave it at that. Think of what style you want to convey and start slowly buying pieces that you feel comfortable in. Then you can slowly filter out those articles of clothing you just hate (or even are just reluctant to wear) replacing them with awesome clothes.