Playing dress up

When I was getting ready for BlogHer, I spent a great deal of time kind of obsessing over what I’d wear to the parties. So much time, in fact, that in retrospect, I’m actually kind of embarrassed to admit this (because it honest-to-God didn’t matter).

I also spent a lot of time obsessing over the scale and the fact that I gained 10 pounds this summer.

And I found myself looking at some plus-sized items because of the promise of a “roomier” cut in shorts and pants.

And because, if I’m being totally honest with myself and y’all (and that’s what I do here) I AM plus-sized.

So when I saw a tweet fly across my screen from @PlusFashionAlly with Kiyonna asking if anyone wanted to model a dress at BlogHer, I jumped.

Because yes.

All of the dresses that I had bought to wear up until that point were awesome dresses with some slight somethingorother that left me just a smidge uncomfortable.

Maybe it was my arm-pit fat. Or my back fat. Or the slight pooch of my stomach that no strength of Spanx could totally flatten.

Whatever it was, it left me tugging and pulling and self-conscious.

Until I met Jemma.

Jemma showed up on my doorstep and I immediately put her on and twirled around my bedroom. Her material didn’t bunch or pull or stick in weird places. She was comfortable, but dressy. Perfect for wear-to-work (with a cami for my girls, of course) or a night out on the town (totally without the cami. Again, for my girls.). She tagged along, folded, in my suitcase and didn’t have a single wrinkle when I unpacked her in San Diego. She got tons of compliments.

Seriously. Like, to the point that someone else there repping Kiyonna stopped me in the lobby and said “Oh! I have that dress in red! The blue looks great on you!” To which I wanted to reply “GO PUT ON YOUR RED DRESS AND WE CAN TAKE A PICTURE AND BE TWINS!” But I didn’t. Because, I mean, crazy much?

Gratuitous photo of me and Katie!

The ruching was perfect to skinny up my waist. The flare of the skirt perfectly hid my wide hips and…errr…shapely thighs.

Oh, what's that? I'm just posing for a picture in a t-shirt shop.

The only thing I’d change about this dress is…well…my skintone? I feel like I could use a little color so my nude shoes don’t look so…nude. And I’d be sure to wear a bra with a plunge in the center. And those two things? Have nothing to do with the dress.

The only REAL thing I’d change about the dress is it’s length. Or my height. I feel like an inch or 2 off the hem would’ve made this the perfect length for me. Or 2 more inches on my height. One of those is way easier to accomplish than the other.

Honestly. I cannot rave enough about this dress and how awesome it is. If you EVER find yourself in need of a dress and you ALSO find yourself to be in need of a little room? Give Kiyonna a shot! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

FTC Disclaimer: Kiyonna.com provided me with one dress of my choice to wear at BlogHer in exchange for this blog post and tweets about the product. In providing me with that dress, they did not provide me with my opinions ABOUT that dress. Because that’d be wrong and Kiyonna.com is good people. Sadly, my student loans still have balances, too.