Going out of your fashion comfort zone

You know how it goes, you know your own body shape and what suits it so you stick with what you know and you stay firmly in your fashion comfort zone.

But what happens when someone else knows your body just as well, if not better than you do?

This is what’s starting happen in my house, as my husband usually gets it right when it comes to fashion for me. Now don’t get me wrong, I still know what suits me and I’m happy with what I choose, but Alex usually has a knack of knowing what will look good on me.

I say usually as he has chosen some ‘interesting’ clothes over the years but he is getting better and better now and has pulled out some huge surprises lately for things that once upon a time I wouldn’t have dreamed of entertaining.

First up which was the most surprising of all was this cardigan, bodysuit, leather look skirt and wedges combo.

Admittedly the bodysuit was my doing, but he bought this outfit for me with the bodysuit in mind! My first thought was I will look like a bumble bee, but looking at it now, I think it suits my shape really well.

The leather look (you would be right in guessing that Alex has a thing for leather) is something that I have mixed feelings about and I personally wouldn’t have paired this outfit with leopard print boots, but I think it actually worked well together! Even if I still wouldn’t wear it now, ha ha. I do love leather look leggings though…

I had a gorgeous pair of faux leather leggings a few years ago and I’ve struggled to find a replacement ever since. This is a really cheap pair below from Wish but they’re surprisingly comfortable. He bought me this knotted back jumper from Boohoo as he thought it would look great in a photo and to wear. It’s not something I would have looked twice at, because you know, it’s not practical.

After seeing the photos I really do love this look… But… This jumper is very much a ‘for Instagram only’ jumper. In reality the knot at the back is not comfortable to lean against at all, which is such a shame.

  • JUMPER – Boohoo – Crop Twist Jumper
  • TROUSERS – Wish – Faux Leather Leggings

With Autumn brings with it some much colder weather and I never need an excuse to pull out a comfy knit. Knowing this, Alex got me one of the comfiest jumpers I own. It’s from Boohoo and it fits me perfectly.

The only thing I didn’t like was the fact that Alex kept pulling down one side for this photo, he claims to know what will look better but it was just plain annoying as I would never choose to wear it like this in my everyday life and I thought that he was going to damage the stitching around the neckline.

To go with this Boohoo jumper, he bought me another pair of my favourite jeans, the Jamie jeans from Topshop. I already own two blue pairs, but these black ripped Jamie jeans have already had their fair share of wear from me. I’m not a massive fan of black jeans but Alex knew that I loved my old pair from Primark with ripped knees and knew that I’d love this replacement.

As well as black ripped jeans, he also got me these black dungarees. I love a pair of dungarees and I wear them all year round but when I opened them up my first reaction was to screw my nose up a little and say ‘really?!’.

The moment I tried them on though I knew these dungarees would be my go to outfit for everyday wear, as they are very comfortable and can be worn with a lot.

  • DUNGAREES – Next – Denim Dungarees
  • TOP – Boden – Sequin Pocket Breton

I’ve had this short pair of dungarees a while now and they’re still going strong.

Alongside dungarees, I love a Pinafore dress and Alex nailed it with this years pinafore from New Look. I adore the colour and it is very flattering if you are anything like me and are a bit conscious of your midriff area.

As I mentioned in my breton top post here, pinafores, dungarees and breton tops are the perfect combination for these autumnal months.

Most of you will know that I’m currently a Boden ambassador and as such I get to show off just some of what they have to offer. However, choosing my outfits isn’t always so straight forward and I’m often umming and ahhing when it comes to what will suit me, so I am always sending Alex links to help me decide. This always ends up with me sending him what I like and then him sending back something completely different that he likes. This is one of those outfits!

  • JUMPSUIT – Boden – Luna Jersey Jumpsuit

Now, not only does Alex like to get me things that I wouldn’t ordinarily choose for myself, he also challenges me to pose in different ways, that often at first I’m not always comfortable with but when I see the end result, I get it what he is trying to achieve.

I am incredibly proud and sometimes amazed at what Alex can sometimes turn around. However, the way he describes his ideas to me leaves a lot to be desired! An idea he had last year that he described to me was we need to wait until we have a torrential downpour, to throw on a summer dress and stand out in the middle of the street for a shot.

At first I was like are you crazy?!

I think the pained look on my face says how pissed off I was at the time! It was actually quite fun and completely spontaneous at the time. Luckily it was also pretty warm in the rain and I was outside my front door, ready for me to run into the shower.

  • DRESS – Primark (no longer available)

Another of his ideas was described to me ‘I want you to get your leather look trousers on, take off your bra and stand in the middle of the field’… This nearly didn’t happen as you can imagine why!

But for all of Alex’s weird and wonderful ideas, he sometimes gets it very right. I bought a dress over the Summer and asked him to take a photo of me for Instagram. Instead of just taking one photo, he suggested showing how you could wear it 3 ways, so we did!

  • DRESS – H&M (no longer available)

Finally, the biggest thing Alex tries to push with me is showing less is more! Something I don’t think we will ever agree on.

Last year while we were in the Dominican Republic, he got a photo of me that at the time we both loved. When we got home we printed it off and put it on the wall, but each time we walked past it, we looked at it and felt something was not quite right about it. Alex came to the conclusion it was the bikini (typical man), so we re-shot it at out local beach and I honestly think it looks so much better, even I am showing more cheek than I would have liked!

I know a lot of shots are about favourable angles but this is proof that sometimes your clothing can make the same image so very different.  Less is more in this case.

The one thing I love about Alex is that he tells it like it is, if he doesn’t think I suit something, he will tell me. He is always trying to show me how much he loves my body and why I should be more confident with it, even if I don’t always agree. Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t, but I love that he is always willing to try. So when Boden featured this image on their feed and I saw the comments that it received, sometimes he might just know best.

At the time I said to him multiple things I didn’t like about the photo but I was happy to be proven wrong. I trust his judgment, even if it often bugs me at the time!

Nb. All clothes featured were bought by Alex and myself, apart from when I mention Boden, where those items were gifted as part of my ambassador role.