Fashion help

I'm constantly complaining about my wardrobe. I don't like most of my clothes -  either because they don't fit right, aren't as fashionable as I'd like, are old and worn out, or aren't magically ironed by themselves. I joke that I need to be turned into What Not to Wear (do I have to start wearing renaissance attire, or what, for this to happen?), but I'm not really joking. 

I know my outfits aren't that bad and it's probably mostly the fit and ironing that get to me. Because of my pain issues, I am also super sensitive to touch which includes the type of fabric I'm wearing and the fit of clothes. Oh, the darn fit of clothes!!! Between my super long torso and my odd hip to waist ratio I feel like I can never find clothes that fit right. Oh, and regular pants are too long, but short/petite ones are just short enough to look odd. Apparently, I need to start making my own clothes. 

And the ironing, yeah... that's probably not going to change. I may be doomed to a life in polyester.

I've been following Liberating Working Moms for some time and they have a series on Working with Style so I was inspired to track what I wear in a normal work week. I ended up taking a Friday off to burn some PTO I had (this was before the end of the year), but ended up wearing something that I probably would have worn to work that day anyway. 

In the end I wasn't sure what documenting my attire would bring me, but I now know that my current go-to colors (besides black and brown) are blue and dark pink, that I still don't like my clothes, that I thought I looked better than these pictures attest to, that I am doomed to ever finding a brown work appropriate shoe, and that it's hard to get a full body self portrait.

Monday

~ Sweater from Target.

~ Shirt from Ragstock. After purchasing it I discovered why this new shirt was only 5 bucks - arms too long, tight in the bicep area, but so loose in the forearm area. So cheaply made. Sometimes you really do get what you pay for.

~ Pants are used from Second Debut . They are comfy, but stretch throughout the day and are slightly too short like most of my pants (see above comment about regular vs short/petite pants). I often go for the slightly too short as I'm too lazy to take my clothes to get tailored.

~ Shoes from DSW which I returned because they didn't fit right. I just can't seem to find a pair of brown shoes that would be work/casual appropriate that I like.

Tuesday

~ Long sleeved black shirt from Kohl's

~Sweater from J.C. Penny's - the one that's closed down in Brookdale mall. What was that - 10 years ago?

~ Scarf from Land's End at Sears. Love that it's super soft and not itchy - it feels like cashmere at first touch without the scratchiness  (yes, cashmere scratches me), but I did end up with blue specs all over my black shirt.

~Pants from Target and are very much over 10 years old. They are comfortable and fit fairly well, but are quite grayed from the years of used. I liked these pants so much that I used to have multiple pairs of them. These are the last to survive. When you have a difficult time finding things that fit you sometimes buy many of them. 

~Shoes from DSW. These are new and super comfy. Initially, I felt like I was back in the '90's wearing big clunky clown shoes, but they look so much better than the beat up shoes I was wearing.

Wednesday

~Shirt - probably from Target. Super thin and always wrinkly looking.

~Sweater was a gift, but I think it's from Charming Charlies along with the necklace. The sweater has a touch of wool (or something that bothers my skin) in it so I have to wear something under it so it doesn't touch my skin. I typically am not a pink and purple combo kind of girl and wouldn't have bought this necklace on my own, but I actually quite like it. I'm not really good at accessorizing and usually stick with the same few pieces of jewelry.

~Pants from Goodwill. As far as pants go I generally like these although, like most of my pants, I wish these were a tad longer, the hips wider, and the waist smaller. 

~Shoes from DSW.

Thursday

~Sweater is from New York and Company, but I actually got it at Goodwill. I love Goodwill for scores like this. This is also one of my favorite outfits as it is comfortable. That is probably my most important request in clothing.

~Scarf from Kohls. This scarf pretty much gets worn every single day. It's usually cold in my office so I try to keep warm by adding this scarf or a fleece sweater. There are some days it's pointless to pick out an outfit as I wear a zipped-up fleece all day long.

~Leggings from Target. I had a decent pair of leggings that I ruined by wearing them through my pregnancy. I then tried to find a new pair, but found it to be an incredible challenge. I bought these when I shouldn't have as they did not fit right at all in the waist. They were fine everywhere else, but I ended up using a book clip to keep the waist tight. I know, right? Either they've shrunk or my waist has gotten bigger, because the gap doesn't bother me nearly as much anymore.

~Boots from DSW. I love these boots, but I almost returned them because they made our house smell like there was an oil spill for quite some time after I bought them. I even kept them out in the garage for while to help with the smell. Glad I kept them because the smell is gone and I get a fair amount of compliments on them. 

Friday

~Shirt from Kohls. I ended up changing shortly after this because of how wrinkly this shirt is. No it's not supposed to look like crushed velvet. The shirt I changed into was also red which is another color that I tend to wear a lot of.

~Sweater is same from above from a closed down J.C. Penny's.

~Jeans from Old Navy. I like the length of these jeans and they are super soft, but the waist is HUGE. I have two Old Navy jeans like this so I am guessing they think all women's waists are larger than their hips. Thank God for belts (and thanks to Erin who suggested the Dapper Snapper for my kid. I got one for her and myself - I love it! No more bulging belt buckle.)

So there you have it - my lame work look. I didn't include my weekend, because, let's face it, I wear yoga pants or my jammies as much as I can. If I could just professionalize those looks I would be set!

One of my issues is shopping. I rarely have time to do it on my own with out dragging around a toddler and I haven't had much luck with online shopping. I was even thinking about hiring a personal shopper, but didn't want to spend the cash on that (let alone spend it on clothes). Although, I read that some thrift stores are providing this service for free since middle aged women in my income bracket have become their biggest shoppers. It's still on my mind, but I haven't taken any action on it yet...

And style? I mean, if you look at my Pinterest boards you might say that I can identify stylish clothing - it's just the trying things on and having them fit correctly and comfortably that get me. And in the end I give up. I may or may not come home with some new item to wear, but I haven't bought anything I really loved in a long, long time.

Does anyone else struggle with finding clothes that they like/are comfortable? Has anyone used a personal shopper? If so, what was your experience? And most importantly, how can I get away with wearing yoga pants everyday?