39: How to Dress While Losing Weight: Petite Capsule Wardrobe Tips

Taking Ozempic or another GLP-1 and suddenly nothing in your closet fits?

Waiting until you reach your goal weight to buy anything new sounds practical. Then Wednesday’s presentation arrives, your blazer hangs, your skirt slips, and your pants have gone baggy in the bum. And it’s clear waiting isn’t an option.

In this episode, Petite Style Coach Angela Foster shares a practical plan for how to dress while losing weight without replacing your entire wardrobe every time your size changes.

You’ll create a small weight-loss transition wardrobe. A flexible capsule of mix-and-match pieces that fits your body now, supports your professional image, and keeps working as your body changes.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• How to move oversized clothes out of your primary closet without donating them
• Which Petite alterations are worth the investment—and which pieces are better replaced
• How to build a transition wardrobe based on complete outfits rather than an arbitrary number of pieces
• How to choose a streamlined color palette and realistic wardrobe budget
• Which stretch fabrics and flexible silhouettes adapt as your body continues to change
• What to replace first so every purchase creates more outfit possibilities
• Where to find polished Petite and Petite-friendly dresses, pants, tops, and blazers

START HERE

Weight loss may change your proportions—not merely your clothing size.

Take (or retake) the Petite Body Shape Quiz:
https://insidepetitestyle.com/quiz

Ready for expert eyes on what to keep, alter, and replace? Explore private Petite style coaching:
https://angelastylecoach.com/coaching

EPISODE CHAPTERS

[00:00] - GLP-1 weight loss and Petite fit
[03:36] - Don’t wait for your goal weight
[04:51] - Clear out clothes that don’t fit
[05:42] - What to alter or replace
[07:10] - Build a transition wardrobe
[09:01] - Choose your color palette
[10:35] - Shop for your changing shape
[13:01] - Set your wardrobe budget
[13:54] - Start with a bra fitting
[14:17] - What to replace first
[15:49] - Dresses that adapt to weight loss
[16:33] - Flexible skirts, pants, and tops
[18:41] - Blazers that fit your new shape
[19:02] - Your Petite Style Challenge

RESOURCES MENTIONED

Episode #05: Expert Alterations for Your Perfect Petite Fit https://insidepetitestyle.com/how-to-hem-jeans-petite-alterations/

Episode #19: Color Analysis for Petites: Expert Answers to Your Questions https://www.buzzsprout.com/2518775/episodes/18147847

Color Guru Color Analysis: https://yourcolorguru.com

Discount Code: asc10

PETITE AND PETITE-FRIENDLY BRANDS MENTIONED

Boden: https://fxo.co/JCl3

Hobbs London: https://fxo.co/JEWu

ME+EM: https://www.meandem.com/us

Favorite Daughter: https://fxo.co/JEWh

Mint Velvet: https://mintvelvet.com/en-us/collections/petite

Eileen Fisher: https://fxo.co/JEWj 

OGLmove: https://oglmove.com/collections/oglmove-womens-petite-clothing?

The Fold London: https://thefoldlondon.com/clothing/petite-edit/

Aritzia: https://www.aritzia.com/us/en/shop-by/workwear/suit-blazers

Cinq à Sept: https://fxo.co/JEWz

Veronica Beard: https://fxo.co/JEWo

AQUA: https://fxo.co/JEa0

CONNECT WITH ANGELA

Website: https://insidepetitestyle.com 

Email: hello@angelastylecoach.com

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Did you know that over 10 million people in the US are on Ozempic or another GLP1? And it's changing everything, from the portion sizes in restaurants getting smaller and smaller, to the sales of junk food, sugary drinks, and alcohol, which have all taken a hit. And of course, it's changed how we shop. Because women who are unsure about their new size are buying multiples of the same piece and then having to return all the ones that don't fit, which we all know is a huge hassle. For petites, a significant weight loss is even more challenging than for our taller sisters. First, because we have less vertical real estate. So the difference between one size and the next can be as little as 8 to 10 pounds. Layer on the uncertainty of which sizes go with our new body shape. Then how overwhelming it is when absolutely none of your clothes fit anymore. A couple things happen next. We either panic shop for something to wear to that super important meeting on Wednesday, which rarely ends up with us having clothes we actually like, or we end up wearing clothes that are way too big for way too long. Not to mention clothes that don't fit undermines our professional image. Plus, constantly fiddling with necklines that slip and fall, pulling up skirts that want to slip off our hips every time we stand up, pants that have way too much room in the bum and look saggy become daily irritants, not to mention super distracting. But not to worry, because in this week's episode, we're talking all about how to dress while losing weight. Things like what to alter, what to do with your clothes that are way too big, even when you're scared to get rid of them, how to create a small capsule wardrobe to get you through until the next 10 pounds, plus oodles of other helpful tips to make your life easier. Be sure to hang around until the end when we're going to talk about the specific styles to look for and where to find them. So getting dressed during that middle stage of weight loss is stress-free and maybe even fun. I'm Angela, your petite style coach, and when you're ready, let's dive in. You know those mornings when you're standing in your closet, you're pressed for time, need to get dressed and out the door, yet despite the fact that your closet is overflowing with clothes, you have nothing to wear. When you're petite, that's not a you problem, that's a brand and retailer problem. Because most of them don't even design clothes for women under 5'7. Pile on all the generic petite style advice, and no wonder getting dressed is so bloom and frustrating. But not for you, not anymore. Welcome to Inside Petite Style, the only podcast created exclusively for women, 5'3 and under. I'm Angela Foster, Petite Style Coach since 2018, and every week you and I will talk about why petite proportions require a different approach. The styles that actually flatter your body shape and work with your lifestyle. Plus, get all the insider shortcuts on where to shop so you're not wasting hours scrolling or even worse, settling for good enough. Because this is about more than looking good. It's about walking into any room, a big presentation, a client meeting, a family event, or heck, just Tuesday, and feeling confident and polished with a style as smart and savvy as you are. Let's get this style party started. We're full of confidence with the life that we want to choose. There are a lot of strong feelings around weight loss. The first one I hear is I still have more weight to lose. I'll just wait until I reach my goal before dealing with my closet. After all, I don't want to go out and buy a bunch of things that won't fit in a month or two. Your hesitance to waste time, effort, and money by not shopping does make sense. If you've ever had this thought, here are a couple things to think about though. The answer doesn't need to be so black and white. There is a happy middle between buying nothing and replacing everything. Like buying a few smart, versatile pieces that'll serve you very well over the next six to eight weeks. Plus, there are very few clients who can put their life completely on hold while losing weight and just show up every day in stretchy yoga pants. And besides, isn't some small part of you excited about looking for a smaller size or exploring a style you've always wanted to try but have stayed away from? If so, then keep listening. The second doubt that usually creeps in is I don't want to get rid of everything that's too big. What if I gain the weight back? Again, the solution doesn't need to be so black and white. Who says you need to get rid of it? Which leads us right into step number one, which is we need to see what we actually have that fits. So before we do anything else, including shopping, we need to move the clothes out of our closet that are uncomfortably big right now. Not get rid of, but does it need to be in your primary closet? Could we instead box it up, put a label on it, and put it in the garage or the attic or even the guest bedroom closet? Once the clothes that don't fit you anymore are gone, this will make seeing your options and getting dressed in the mornings a whole lot easier. Now, if we ignore this step, we too often buy clothes that aren't helpful and don't fill in any important wardrobe gap. The fun part about this is as you're going through the items that still fit, you'll likely discover clothes you haven't been wearing because up till now they've been too tight. Another thing you're likely to run into are clothes that are on the fence. They're slightly too big in one area, but still okay in others. We talk a lot about petite alterations and tailoring in the episode with Jennifer Sayer, a master designer and tailoring guru. She shares so many helpful tips. I'll be sure to add that link to the show notes so you can hear all about them straight from her. The big thing to know though is that for petites, alterations of two inches or less are usually doable. Nipping in the waistband is usually an easy fix. So is raising the hem, not because we shrunk, but because when we lose width in our middle sections, skirts and pants hang lower, which makes the hem hit lower, which can cause issues. Lined blazers are really difficult to alter and often end up costing more than just buying a new one. Dresses can go either way depending upon where they're too roomy. If it's the bus, tweaking the darts can be an easy fix. When you get into necklines or run into zippers, that fix can be a lot harder and more expensive. Something else to consider, if you don't have an awesome tailor and are giving a new one a try for the first time, take in one piece and see how it turns out. If they're not talented and end up ruining one piece, it's a whole lot less upsetting than if they destroy every skirt and every pair of pants you own. Once you've gathered everything worth altering, rush those to the tailor, and when you get them back, they can be added to their closet. Now that you know exactly what you have, we're ready to move on to step two, and that's what do you need? There are really two choices on how to move forward. The first is you can buy five to seven dresses, say five for work and a couple for the weekend, and wear them on repeat, which is absolutely an option, especially if you love your legs and that's your favorite feature and you want to accentuate them even more now. If that sounds like a plan, terrific. We'll talk about the best dress styles for you in just a bit. In case you're more of a separate skirl, or you're listening to this episode in the winter, or you simply want more mixing and matching opportunities, here's where we start to put together your weight loss capsule wardrobe for lack of a better phrase. Not to get on a soapbox, but capsule wardrobe experts, any articles on the topic that you read, chat groups you're in, they all love to talk about how many pieces you need. Like a traditional capsule revolves around 30 pieces. Minimalist capsules include 10. But pieces don't translate into outfits, which is what we really need. So instead, how many outfits do you want to have and will get you by happily until it's time for the next size down? Only you can decide that. But for the sake of this example, let's say your goal is five career outfits. Now, where do we start? I'm so glad you asked. Do you prefer skirts or pants? Say you prefer skirts but like to wear pants on casual Fridays. So then you need four skirts and one pair of pants. Let's also say you need a couple of blazers to wear with them, and five blouses, sweaters, or tops, because you'll be rotating these every week and don't want to feel like everybody who looks at you is thinking, oh my gosh, she's wearing that again. They're not, by the way, but it's easy to think that they are. Anywho, the easiest solution is classic styles in a limited color palette. In case you're thinking, that sounds boring as heck, hold on. For the most part, your accessories will continue to fit. Although depending upon how much weight you lose, your shoes may eventually be too big. But that aside, you can always switch things up by wearing different earrings with the same outfit, or different shoes, or carrying a different handbag. All that to say we don't need to be bored unless we want to be. Okay, back to choosing your color palette. It's easiest to choose three neutral colors, say black, gray, and white, or chocolate brown cream and burgundy, or navy white and beige. Keep in mind, if you kept several great pieces that you want to continue to wear that will definitely push you in a specific direction. Say you have a pair of terrific gray pants, then the black, white, and gray palette might be best for you, or a chocolate-colored blazer that fits perfectly still. Then it's probably easiest to stick with the dark brown cream and burgundy color scheme. There is no right or wrong. It's all about what looks best and feels right on you. Speaking of looking good, there is a great episode with Jeannie from Color Guru. She shares all sorts of helpful pointers on using your palette to make shopping easier. I will be sure to pop that link in the show notes also. And if afterwards you decide to have your colors done, I'll find the discount code she gave to the members of the Petite Revolution and pop that in too. Alright, you are making terrific progress and we're ready to move on to step number three. Have you ever Googled how do I make? And a thousand different autofill prompts come up. Everything from how do I make hard-boiled eggs to make my dog behave when the Amazon delivery guy comes to the door, and on and on. That may seem like a random analogy, but it actually has a whole lot in common with typing in petite navy skirt. Too many options pop up, none of them quite right, all resulting in a huge time suck. Instead, let's be super specific about what skirt we actually want. Imagine the difference when we enter petite navy pinstripe pencil skirt. We'll still have lots of choices, but it sure as heck won't be the 1.5 billion that popped up before. There is one small speed bump that can make knowing what to enter a bit of a challenge, and that is that weight loss doesn't happen evenly. Some women lose weight in their middle section first, while other areas stay exactly the same. Or they lose it in their thighs and bum first or in their bust. Just like every petite is different, we all lose weight differently. So it would be a mistake to assume our shape is the same, just smaller than it used to be. Which makes this the perfect time to check in on our body shape. If you haven't yet or need to again, after this episode is over, take the petite body shape quiz. You can get to it by going to insidepetitstyle.com forward slash quiz. I'll also add the link to the show notes so you can find it easily. The other fun thing about taking or retaking the quiz is that when your signature body shape changes, it opens up a whole new world of styles and silhouettes that flatter you. One caveat, and I can't remember where it says this, either in the video or in the quiz itself, but it says something about not needing to actually measure. And that makes sense when your body has been virtually the same for years. In this case though, it's best to bust out the measuring tape and really verify your shoulder and bust measurement, your hip and thigh measurement, and is one smaller than the other, or are they very close to the same? Because you've been there for every minute of the weight loss, your perspective of where you've lost the most volume can be wildly skewed, and it's best to check. One more thing marked off our list, and we're ready to circle back to the four skirts and one pair of pants we need. Our goal is classic styles in one of the colors in our color palette range. Where we look will depend on our budget. If you don't have one, then go right ahead and jump to the next step. But if you do, it's best to give that some thought now. Because the last thing you want to do is get halfway through your list and have to stop. We're not talking a rigid maximum dollar amount where alarms on your computer start going off when you hit add to cart, but it helps to know, okay, I went a little bit over on the blazer, so I'm gonna look for blouses that are on sale or from a less expensive retailer. The easiest way to figure it out is to say, and I'm totally making this up, but say I can spend $2,000. I need 12 pieces, so that means I can spend roughly $167 per item. Or my budget is $1,000, I need 12 pieces, so my budget is roughly $84 a piece. You get the idea. Okay, we're ready to shop, and our first stop is to schedule a bra fitting. This is such an important step and one that too many women skip. But please don't. It makes such a huge difference. Besides for all the other problems ill-fitting bras are responsible for, the right one will be way more comfortable and your new items will fit and look way better. That's a win-win-win. How do we decide which of the 12 pieces to look for first? It's usually an easy choice because for most women, one closet gap is much more severe than another. Like I only have one bottom piece left, or I only have two tops, and one of them is a sweater that's much too casual to wear to work. As you move through your list, always keep in mind which of the 12 pieces will make the most complete outfits. For example, if I only had a pair of navy pants that fit, I could wear these four blouses, making those pants a top priority. Versus this white dress, which would go with, well, nothing. Or maybe one other piece. It can still be on your list, but it should be closer to the bottom. Now we're ready to talk which are the smartest styles to choose when you're in the middle of your weight loss, and the places to find those styles. Keep in mind, we're looking for styles that flatter your body shape absolutely. We're also looking for fabrics with a bit of stretch that'll last you as long as possible, and styles that are more flexible. Speaking of flexible, let's tackle dresses first. The first style is a shirt dress because you can tie the belt as tight as you want. Shirt dresses can be tough at the office because they so often fall on the casual side of the scale, but it can be done. One other tip about shirt dresses is be cautious of ones that have a shirt tail hem. I'm sure you've seen them. The curve mimics at the hem of a men's shirt. They have a more casual feel than a straight hem. For great petite styles, check out Bowden and look specifically for ones in a jersey or stretch jersey material. Besides for being a terrific fabric for weight loss, that's also wrinkle-free. Wrap dresses are another timeless style, and again, because of how you get to decide how tight to tie the belt, it will likely hang with you past the next 10 pounds. For great wrap dresses, check out Hobbs London and Me M. They both have lots of styles with both fuller skirts and more tailored skirts, sleeve details, no sleeve details, meaning that both body shapes four and six will be able to find ones that look perfect. Oh, and by the way, I'll put all of these links in the show notes so you don't have to remember them all. Let's talk skirt styles next. While we want to stay classic, we want to avoid picking out multiple skirts in very similar styles, like two pencil skirts or two A-line skirts. Let's shoot for styles that we can tell a difference between because that will help stop us from getting bored. Okay, we're ready for pants. Now, if your skirt to pant ratio is flipped from our scenario, you'll want to hop over to favorite daughter right away, because honestly, they have a better variety of leg shapes and rises and colors than they've had in several seasons. Also look at mint velvet, just as many options as favorite daughter and a bunch of casual styles too. So two birds, one stone type of thing. Traditional advice would recommend elastic waistband pants, which in and of itself isn't a horrible suggestion, except when they veer over to the lane of they look like my grandma's pants. That aside, if the idea sounds interesting, take a look at Eileen Fisher. She has some really great classic timeless tailored choices in a stretch crepe, which is another great material because it keeps its shape, has stretch, and will give us that flexibility that we're looking for. Please though, don't be distracted by her top sweaters or blouses. Petite label or not, they're just too long, too oversized, and shapeless for short girls. A new brand that's getting quite a bit of client interest is OGL Move. They don't have a ton of work styles yet, but the ones that they do have are really good. Even better than elastic waistbands, they're stretchy pull-on. Plus, if you're into organic material, you're really gonna love this brand. When it comes to tops and material, knits are always a smart choice because of the stretch, meaning you'll be able to wear them as you continue to lose weight. For fresh new tops, flouses, and sweaters, hop on over to the Fold London. One word of warning though, they are very adventurous with color. So we have to stay focused, otherwise, we'll get distracted and end up with a rainbow bright closet. Look at Aretia and SeptaSank for Blazers. Now, while they call themselves petite friendly, they're not actually petite-sized. So always be sure to check out the specs or sizing guide to ensure that they'll fit. Two other brands that clients really like are Veronica Beard and Aqua, which is Bloomingdale's house brand. Okay, do you know what time it is? Yep, it's time for this week's style challenge because listening to the episode and hearing the petite tips is great, but it's putting those tips into practice where getting dressed starts to get easier. This week, the most helpful action you can take is to move the clothes that are way too big out of your primary closet. Just remember, no pressure. You don't have to donate them, you don't have to throw them away, just box them up, label it, and store it someplace out of the way. Because when your closet is packed with clothes that don't fit anymore, and you have to sort through each and every one each morning to find something to wear, it wastes so much time and energy. Being able to see what you have and what fits makes all the other tips we talked about so much easier. Before you leave, be sure to follow the show so you never miss out on a petite style tip because successful, high-achieving petites deserve to like and feel confident in their clothes. Thank you so much for hanging out, and I will see you back here next week. Till then, have fun and stay stylish. Thanks for tuning in to Inside Petite Style. When you're ready to turn your closet packed with clothes into a room filled with actual outfits you like and, dare I say, are excited to put on in the morning? Head on over to AngelaStylecoach.com forward slash coaching to see the different ways you and I can work together. We'll create a wardrobe that fits your height, flatters your body shape, works for your real life, and reflects how wildly successful you already are. And hey, you know that girlfriend who's always rolling up her sleeves and hemming her pants? Share this episode with her. She needs to know she's not alone and that there are real solutions. See you next week. Until then, have fun and stay stylish.