style – MeeshyD

Style

The shorts of the Summer

June 24, 2020

At some point early in quarantine when I put myself on a serious shopping hiatus, I just so happened to check my promotions folder on my email and came across a note from Universal Standard with a ‘mystery offer’. Do you ever click those? Everytime I have in the past, the mystery offer has been piddly but this time I just knew it was going to be $50. I just knew it!

I clicked over to the site and I immediately added a pair of biker shorts to cart. At that time, they were $55 (now $65). I didn’t even really think about it. I pasted the promo code into my browser and there it was: $50 off. Can you believe it!? I still get that giddy feeling when I think about that moment and my $5 shorts.

The shorts arrived and I put them on my body and I swear to the good lord that I have never felt something so soft and sweet and buttery. I immediately declared them the shorts of the Summer. I wasn’t wrong. I reach for those shorts the moment they come from the wash and they are, hands down, the most comfortable piece of clothing I own right now.

I laugh a little bit because, honestly, these shorts are fugly. I distinctly remember when I saw my first instagrammer wearing them last year. Ewwww. Who wants to wear something so unflattering? I swore up and down that I would never be caught dead in a pair, which is what I say about basically every fashion trend I notice and then, a few months later, there I am rocking it with my bad self. It’s like a fashion amnesia. It’s not that I suddenly think these shorts are the most flattering, cute shorts ever. It’s just that they feel SO great that the comfort exceeds the fashion. Lately, I have no patience for clothes that aren’t comfortable. Function over form, especially this Summer while we’re still at home.

I feel happy to have the opportunity to share size-inclusive Universal Standard with you all here. I am a longtime fan whose love was rekindled via a $50 coupon offer. I have the Geneva dress, which is just about the most perfect dress I’ve ever owned. I know that it’s a bit spendy on the site, but it’s clothes I feel good in and also feel good about supporting. My goal is to make more purchases like that. I think I’d rather have fewer clothes that are made well and ethically than a closet full of more affordable clothes with questionable origins. Universal Standard doesn’t champion a sustainability message at this time, but they are radically committed to inclusivity with their brand. If you want to try them out, leave a comment below and I’ll contact you via email with an offer through their referral program where you’ll get a FREE t-shirt and I will get $25. I have three offers to share.

If you’re not able to spend $65 on a pair of shorts right now, trust me, I understand. I also researched an option on Amazon that’s more affordable because I want you to enjoy the magical Shorts of the Summer. These bad boys are just $20.99 and are a really great value for the price. I have a pair of the 5 inch shorts that I’ve been wearing around the house lately. They’re not as buttery and cloud-like as the Universal Standard option, but they are perfectly great for a third of the price.

What do you think of the biker shorts trend? Are they the shorts of the Summer for you? Let me know!

deep thoughts, fashion, Style

A Workout Set Review from The Girlfriend Collective

December 31, 2019

I’ve wanted a Girlfriend Collective workout set for quite some time. Over Black Friday weekend, I got a coupon offer for 25% off and I finally pulled the trigger. I’m normally ragtag AF when it comes to my workout wear. I’m typically wearing pants I find on the clearance rack at Old Navy with a tank top, but when I saw my first coordinated crop top workout set, I got all heart eyes emojis and wanted one for myself. I love Girlfriend Collective because they are size inclusive, not just in their products but also in their marketing. Plus, they use recycled plastic in their sets, which I appreciate, so I happily supported them and couldn’t wait to get my workout set.

It arrived in the mail, perfectly packaged in a fun branded cloth pouch. I ordered the Compressive High Rise Legging with the 28.5″ inseam and the Classic Length Paloma Bra in the plum colorway. I planned to rock the set and take photos in it to share with you all here, but I kept putting off the blog post for weeks.

That’s the weird thing about being body positive. As a body positive person, I love seeing women of any size wearing whatever they want to wear. As a body positive person, I think that wanting your body to fit an unrealistic ideal and depriving yourself of the chance to wear a two piece swimsuit or a crop top or anything you desire to wear is absurd. As a body positive person, I love and appreciate all bodies and hate that we have been conditioned to put so much of our self-worth into the way we look in relation to a made-up ideal.

I’m a body positive person, but I’m still undoing years and years of self-hatred and shame over the way my body looks and my perceived failure at my inability to conform my body to a smaller, more acceptable size. When the workout set arrived in the mail, the reality that I was going to parade my body out in public in a slightly oversized bra hit me like a ton of bricks. The expansive part of me wanted nothing more than to wear it while the smaller, scared, self-hating part of me wanted nothing to do with it. I fought this internal battle for weeks until the expansive part of me won and I found myself walking down Lakeshore Ave in Oakland with my tummy out.

Not only did I have to work up the nerve to wear the set in public, I also wanted to take photos of myself in the set to share them on the internet. Cue the nervous giggle I still feel as I write this post. I took about two hundred mirror selfies in the Hipline dressing room, contorting my body in as many angles as I could, but there I was. My body that was bigger than I wanted it to be, with my rounded tummy that no snatched angle is going to hide. In moments like those, I stop taking the photos and I speak to myself with as much kindness as I can muster. I also just stop my brain from continuing on the path of insecurity because if I don’t control myself I will berate myself so badly and before I know it I will find myself crying in my bed for days. I know now how to interrupt my thoughts and stop the negative self-talk.

So, I stopped the photos and I comforted myself a bit and put my jacket away and went to wait in line for the studio. Would you believe me when I say that I literally felt naked walking the ten steps across the studio in front of twenty women? I wanted to hide so badly, but I kept moving. I spoke kindness to myself in my head and I moved through the fear.

I’ve tried to tell you all how much Hipline means to me, but I really can’t find the words. It’s a supportive space for women to dance, to connect to themselves, to feel welcomed as they are. It’s one of the most beautiful things in my life and here’s why: when I joined the line of women waiting for the studio, I kid you not at least five women told me I looked amazing. They complimented my new set. When I told them I felt uncomfortable in the crop top, one of them told me that she knew exactly what I was going through, but that if I made it through one class in it, I’d never go back to any other style of workout wear. They offered me unconditional, body positive support and that meant the world to me. They literally lifted me up out of my own pain and I am so thankful.

I danced my heart out that day. After a few minutes, I forgot all about my tummy hanging out. When I caught myself in the mirror, I smiled not just because I looked fabulous, but because I knew that I had made another massive step out of my body hatred. It’s the silliest thing, really, but these are the moments that change everything.

Wow, this review got really deep. Long story short, I LOVE my Girlfriend Collective set and recommend it without hesitation. May we all feel empowered to walk around with our tummies out!

If you want to support Girlfriend Collective, please use my referral link to receive $10 off your purchase. If you use the link, I will get a free pair of leggings and you know I will rock the heck out them!

Would you like to share a similar story about body positivity? I love hearing about us women growing and coming into our own power!

Rent the Runway Unlimited, Style

My Second Rent the Runway Unlimited Shipment Review

December 30, 2019

Friends! I’m back to the old blog again. Sorry for my unplanned hiatus over the holidays. I ended up getting really sick with the worst cold/flu ever that knocked me out for days and caused me to basically cancel Christmas, including a trip home to Arizona to see the family. It wasn’t pretty, but I made it through and I’m excited to be back again on meeshyd.com.

Today, I’m going to share the second installment of the Rent the Runway Unlimited review. This shipment contained two different items: a Rebecca Minkoff bag and a dress to wear to my work holiday party. I ended up fooling around and not ordering any of my awesome options that I wrote about earlier for the party, so I was left scrambling to find something to wear on Rent the Runway Unlimited. As you’ll recall, my first option was comically small and so I tried to find a dress that had lots of give from a sizing perspective to ensure that it fit, which is how I landed on a hunter green wrap dress. The only (major!) problem when it arrived was that it was very cleavage revealing and I didn’t feel comfortable wearing it as-is. I refused to be the new girl with her boobs out at the party! This left me on instagram stories with my closest friends asking for advice on how to handle the situation.

I considered wearing a turtle neck under it:

Which, honestly, I thought was super cute. Perhaps I should’ve gone that direction, but I ended up going to the mall and buying a cropped green sweater to wear over it. When I got home and dressed, I felt super matronly but I just had to go with it. It wasn’t my best fashion moment, but I learned from the situation and will try to be more on top of my planning in the future. It really bummed me out that the fit has been such an ongoing issue for me with Rent the Runway Unlimited already. I just find the sizing to be so inconsistent and think they REALLY need to add a feature that uses your exact measurements so that you can be sure that the clothes you order are going to actually fit your body.

Moving onto the purse: I was initially super excited about it. I’m not a big spender when it comes to bags, so to be able to carry a $300 Rebecca Minkoff bag felt so luxurious to me. This particular purse, though, has been a bit of a pain. The chain gets caught in my hair ALL the time, so it will be going back on Monday.

My next shipment is on the way to me as we speak. I had a bit of a major mishap with the service where I had thought I placed an order, but it was still pending in my ‘bag’ online, so I lost an entire week of outfits due to my error. For this next shipment, I ordered three sweaters I’m super excited to wear that shouldn’t be a problem with sizing. That’s been the best part – you get the joy of online shopping but then once you get sick of the items (which happens surprisingly fast!), you get to order something new. I think I am saving money on the shopping front thus far, but I haven’t been blown away by what I’ve received. I’m hoping to better find my mojo with the service over time, but if I weren’t reviewing it for the blog, I might have cancelled already.

Have you done Rent the Runway Unlimited? Interested to try it out? Here’s a link to receive $100 off. It’s a referral link, so if two people end up signing up, I will receive a free month of Rent the Runway.

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