Today lets talk about leggings! One of the questions I get asked most is “Am I too old to wear leggings?” I love my leggings, especially this time of year because they are so easy to throw on and they look great with sweaters, boots and all kinds of winter attire. But women are asking “What’s the cut off for leggings or is there a way I should be wearing them differently once I’m past 40″ and as a blogger over 40, I feel like this is a fair question to ask. It seem like some of us have this alarm that sounds in our heads when we turn 40 and we say all of a sudden, should I be wearing this? Is this appropriate for me anymore? And it’s a perfectly reasonable question. For more details on this topic check out my Coffee Chat below.
Is something age-appropriate is a topic that’s I’ve talked about in the past and it refers to many clothing items, not just leggings. It’s ripped or distressed jeans. It’s skirts above the knee. It’s over the knee boots. It’s figure-hugging dresses. There are all of these things that women bring to me and say, “Is this something that I can continue to wear?” And if I’m being totally honest, I don’t have the definitive answer to this question. I’m really not an expert on this subject, but I do have a formula. It’s kind of a litmus test of sorts that I personally use when I’m trying to make decisions on what I wear.
1. Does this piece make me feel more confident and stylish?
So the first question I want you to ask yourself is, does this piece make me feel more confident and stylish when I wear it? Because really, this is the most important question that you’re going to ask. If something makes you feel good, then wear it. It’s that simple. If you’re comfortable in it and when you look in the mirror, you can say this just feels like me and you’re comfortable walking out the door, then that is absolutely something that you should be wearing.
2. Does this piece fit and flatter my body?
Question number two is, does this piece fit and flatter my body? If a piece that may feel younger fits and flatters you better than another item, then, by all means, wear it. Why not? Right? We don’t have to completely cover ourselves up to be age-appropriate. As a matter of fact, it’s best, in my opinion, to pick your favorite body part and highlight that one. Show it off!
3. What are my motivations behind wearing this?
The third question is what I call the “gut check” question. If you feel at all uncomfortable in what you’re wearing then you should ask yourself, “what are my motivations behind wearing this?” This is not for me or anyone else to judge but for you to ask yourself. This is your own gut check that you’re going to do when you put the item on. We all know ourselves. We know what motivates us and why we make decisions. So if for any reason, it makes you feel, for lack of a better word, icky, when you do that gut check, then maybe that’s a piece that you need to re-examine.
At the end of the day, it really comes down to two things. What makes you feel good and what do you want to tell others about you with your clothes? Because we send messages out into the world with everything that we put on. So leggings are absolutely no exception to these rules. When you put them on, if they make you feel great, then absolutely wear them. There is no age cutoff limit. There is nothing out there that says if you’re over 40, you cannot wear leggings anymore. I just want you to know that if you take away one thing from this is that if something makes you feel comfortable, if it fits and flatters you and you feel great in it, then it is perfectly fine to wear. So wear your leggings ladies!
And with that said I’m so excited about the newest Outfit Formulas® freebie, 21 Days of Leggings! Three weeks worth of leggings looks absolutely free! You’ll get the shopping list and links, in case you need to fill in any gaps, and a 21 day outfit calendar. But ladies, don’t forget to shop your closets first because I promise, you probably have some of these pieces already in there. This is a free downloadable guide, detailing exactly how to style them – perfect for any woman, size, age, and budget!
Keep the conversation going? What does age-appropriate dressing mean to you? Tell me in the comments.*
*This is a judgment-free zone, so please be respectful of each other and me. But seriously, I want to know what this means to you and how it affects your decisions.
Whether you like to work out before your errands or after, the last thing any of us want is more laundry which is why I love an outfit that can pull double duty! That way I can go straight from the gym and finish up all my errands before heading back home. Plus, sometimes once I get home I loose that motivation to go back out or I get sidetracked with other things that need my attention. This way, once I’m out of the house, I can get everything accomplished that I need to, including my workout.
I’ve been checking out some of the cute, new athletic wear from our friends at Walmart and pulled a look that is perfect for those days when your running includes more than just hitting the gym.
This jacket is the perfect item to throw on post-workout. The quilting is a fabulous little detail but it also has stretch so you won’t feel constricted while out and about. Plus it comes in three different colors that honestly would all go with the printed leggings. I would just swap out the mint tank for gray or black if you decided to go with the Lunar Glow color.
This is what I would call a workout closet staple, a great, solid color tank top. This one comes in a variety of colors and they are super budget-friendly. For this particular look I selected this amazing mint color but you could easily swap it out for this bright pink or even a neutral black.
I first fell in love with these leggings and built the outfit around them. I love the print and that they will go with so many different colors since snake print is considered a neutral. They also had high reviews and come in a range of sizes.
If your current sports bra isn’t giving you the support you need then it’s time for a new one! This full-coverage bra from Avia comes in a variety of moisture wicking colors and a wide range of sizes.
Lastly, every outfit needs a great pair of shoes! These cute sneakers from Athletic Works will take you from running on the treadmill to running to the grocery store without missing a beat. They come in three different colors but I’m partial to the gray as they will go with anything and won’t show dirt as much.
Want more workout style inspiration? Sign up for the GYPO newsletter here and ensure you won’t miss future posts featuring more double duty looks!
Big thanks to Walmart for sponsoring this post and making it easy to feel trendy and stylish when we’re working out and running errands!
I’ll start off by warning you that this may get a little deep, which these sometimes do. Nothing like the end of one year and the beginning of another to make a person really stop and analyze life. December is when we tend to reflect on the year that we had, the good, the bad and what we maybe could have done better. But now it’s January which is the time we look ahead, set our goals and light that fire for what we’re gonna do. It’s an exciting and hopeful month but it can also be tough.
We start out with these high expectations we set for ourselves then a lot of us burn out on them and quickly lose that momentum. That is why I’ve learned from past years that while it’s important to set my goals and intentions for the year, it’s equally important for me to also take it easy on myself. Maybe I’m still in recovery mode from the holidays but January is now a time for me to be a little bit kinder to myself. Then when February rolls around, I usually feel a little more prepared to really dive into my goals. It’s also a time for me to pause and reflect on the past year. What were my wins last year? Where did I fail? For more details on my biggest wins and fails of 2019 click on the Coffee Chat below.
The Wins
I’m decided I’m going to start this off on a positive note by discussing what I feel are my greatest wins of last year and they all deal with personal development. For the past few years, I felt like I’ve been stagnant. I stayed in the same space emotionally and it was a big year for me to break out of some old patterns that I was in.
1. Overcoming Confidence Issues
I have been totally transparent about this with all of you but confidence issues are something that has plagued my entire life. To help with this I decided it was time for a therapy ‘brush-up.’ I hadn’t been in therapy on a regular basis in a few years and confidence is something that I can absolutely work on there. My belief in myself this past year has blossomed. It’s led to so many powerful changes that have allowed me to be a better leader, wife, mom, daughter, sister and friend.
2. Practicing Self-Compassion
One of the other things my therapist wanted me to work on was really being more compassionate with myself. For years I used criticism as my driving force. I implore others to be kinder to themselves yet my own negative self-talk was out of control. I really had to be aware and monitor myself. I realized that I needed to make that shift towards being compassionate to myself. I’m still working on the self-compassion thing but awareness is half the battle.
3. Acceptance
This was also a big one – acceptance. Acceptance of what makes me different as a human being and as an influencer. And I got to say that this community, all of you specifically, have helped with this so much. I see Get Your Pretty On as a movement, as a mission. I feel like the mission has always been about a few key things that are central to who I am. I want to be inclusive. This should be for every woman. I believe personal style and feeling good in your clothes and feeling confident is not reserved for a certain subgroup of women in this world. It is for everybody, every body, every budget, everyone. No exceptions. I want everybody to feel good in their clothes. Style and confidence go hand in hand and that is a part of my core mission.
4. Being Open With My Feelings
I feel like vulnerability has been the key to unlocking relationships whether it’s with my family, with my friends and with you all. Being more open with my feelings and being more vulnerable has been a huge win for me this year. Along with that is being more direct about my needs from others. And this goes across the board from being more direct with Craig about things that I needed from him to being more direct with my team. I needed to really focus on being clear about expectations and asking for what I want instead of expecting people to read my mind.
The Fails
I struggled with identifying these, not because I’m afraid to admit to failure, but because they were reframed as learning opportunities. Trust me, as mentioned above, I am the first person to admit to my flaws and shortcomings. But reflecting over the past year there were definitely some notable missteps.
1. Ignoring My Health
I ignored a health issue that I had for two months. The funny thing is that I feel like I do take really good care of myself. I work out three times a week. I try to eat right 80 percent of the time. I try to do all those things to keep my body healthy. However, I got really busy and did a lot of traveling and I largely ignored what my body was telling me. I’m just now starting to get some answers. It’s something autoimmune, which I suspected all along, but letting it get to a certain point where it went from being a smaller problem to being a bigger problem is something I regret. In 2020 I’ve got to make taking care of myself a better priority.
2. Too Many Directions
I threw my energy into too many different directions and expected results in all of those. Instead, I should have focused on a few key areas. If you’re juggling too many balls at once, eventually one of those balls is going to drop. It’s important to prioritize and then go at it with laser focus. I’m doing a much better job of that this year and focusing on a much smaller set of things. And we’ll see how that goes.
3. Trying To Do Everything
I thought I could do it all on my own and that I could do it better. I didn’t ask for help and I didn’t delegate. I may have missed out on some opportunities because of this, but I’ve realized that there’s nothing wrong with asking for help. Delegating it’s a weakness, it’s empowering others to rise up whether it’s with my family or with my team.
4. Revenue Goal vs. Impact Goal
As I mentioned, I start off the year goal setting both personally and professionally. With any business, the first goal set is usually a revenue goal so you have something to work towards. However, I realized the problem with setting a revenue goal is that it doesn’t drive me, it doesn’t light a fire under me for the coming year. I’m a person who gets complacent and satisfied sometimes with enough. I learned that what I’m passionate about, what truly motivates me is an impact goal. How many women’s lives can I change? What is the impact that I can create? Where can I volunteer? Where can I donate? What can I do with the money that’s coming in to use it as a vehicle for impact and change? And making that shift made all the difference for me.
5. Bangs
Just being 100% honest but I totally regret getting bangs last year. I liked them for about two weeks tops and then proceeded to spend the rest of the year wishing they would grow out faster. I’ve learned that I will never ever, ever, have bangs again.
My One Word
I know, the one-word thing is super trendy right now and everybody’s doing this when setting their intentions for 2020. Nevertheless, my one word for this year is gratitude. This past year in therapy, one of the things that I realized is that I had a lot of anxiety. I’m an anxious person. Good anxious energy drives me and pushes me in new directions. But it can also wear me down and make me really, really tired. One of the things my therapist challenged me to do was shift from anxious thoughts to grateful thoughts. So now anytime anxiety, fear, worry, whatever pops into my head I stop and shift that to gratitude instead. I list off all of the things that I’m grateful for every single day. This has truly been lifechanging for me.
I’m going to leave you with this final thought that my therapist also shared with me, “you can ruminate on bad things or you can ruminate on good things. The choice is yours.”
Your turn! How did your 2019 go? What were your wins? Your fails? What would be your one-word for 2020?
I always love finding beautiful and affordable items to add to my closet whether they are closet staples or trendy pieces. I’ve been working with Walmart for roughly the past ten months and I can’t begin to tell you much they have evolved and totally upped their fashion game! The clothes they have available both online and in-store are amazing and the prices are super budget-friendly.
Recently, they partnered with a brand called Scoop with the idea of bringing boutique shopping at affordable prices to help you build the ultimate closet. I was intrigued and of course, had to check out all that the Scoop line had to offer. Let me tell you, they have some really amazing pieces! They have pieces perfect for every day casual, a fun night out and some items with a little sparkle, perfect for any upcoming holiday party.
With so many items to choose from it was hard to narrow it down, but I did manage to pick five of my top pieces which I listed below.
This is a warm twist on the classic denim jacket which is a tried and true closet staple. What caught my eye with this jacket is the soft sherpa lining which looks amazingly cozy and the wash on this jacket is timeless.
What I love about this black boot is that it’s a great closet staple but also subtly incorporates the snake print trend. They’ll look great with skinny jeans but also under a pair of bootcut jeans. This is an awesome way to ease into this trend.
Is it any surprise there is a leopard print item on this list?!? I love the size of the actual leopard print on this pump and the pink insole is a fun little detail. This is a great and very versatile shoe to add to your closet!
The little black dress is a classic closet staple and I love the lace details in this dress. Also, the wrap style silhouette is very flattering and the 3/4 length lace sleeves are perfect for this time of year.
Okay, so yes technically this is another leopard print item but I love how the red background really enhances the look of this piece! This sweater can easily be styled with some black skinny dress pants and heels or dark wash skinny jeans and black booties. Maybe this sweater could make an appearance at your next holiday party?
Have you checked out Scoop for Walmart yet? What’s your favorite piece? Click here to view the full Scoop line!
Big thanks to Walmart for sponsoring this post and making it easy to feel trendy and stylish!
After weeks of putting it off, I finally cleaned out my closet, packing away my spring/summer clothes and breaking out my fall/winter wardrobe. Now I know it may seem a little late in the season to be doing this but it has been so warm here that I didn’t want to make the swap just yet. Then, what seemed to be overnight, the weather suddenly changed and we’re finally experiencing the cold weather I love this time of year! Watch my weekly Coffee Chat video below for more details on my closet cleanout.
I wanted to talk to you about closets, closet cleaning and closet staples today because we did a survey of GYPO readers in September regarding the Fall Style Challenge. I wanted to know that if you didn’t sign up for the Fall Style Challenge, what was your reason? I do this because we are constantly trying to make the Style Challenges better and I can use this information to make the program better for all of you.
But it was the feedback from those surveys that led me to today’s topic. There were two main reasons why our readers didn’t sign up, the first was budgetary restrictions. I do make the program affordable at $39 a season but I understand that for some, even that can be a stretch. And I totally 100% get it. I’m a mom and my kids suck most of the money out of the house. But it wasn’t just about the sign-up cost but more about purchasing the items on the other end of that. For fall, we tend to need a lot more clothes than we do for any other time of year. There’s a lot more buying that happens after you buy the program so that I totally get it.
However, it was the second reason that surprised me the most, that a lot of you feel like your closet is overwhelming you right now. The idea of digging into your closet, cleaning it out and seeing what you have takes your anxiety to an all-time high. I totally get that too! There’s no way to really do it neatly, especially if you haven’t done it in a long time. It’s an “it gets worse before it gets better” type of situation but it’s necessary so you can see what you have before you start filling in the gaps. If you don’t take inventory of what you’ve already got then you’ll end up like me with 12 black and white striped shirts in my closet. I love stripes but does anyone really need that many of the same striped shirt?
If you’re still not sure where to start, check out my Closet Cleanout Guide. Then once you’re done with that, you may still be anxiously looking at your closet only now thinking, “okay, so now my closet is empty and I have no more clothes!” If that overwhelming feeling comes back, then download my free Closet Staples Shopping list because that’s going to give you the basics you’ll want to have in place in your closet. Go through the list and check things off that you already have and then head to the store to get what you need. Shopping with purpose will actually help you spend less money in the end I promise!
So my challenge to you is whether you decide to do a full closet cleanout or just go through and quickly assess items you know you either don’t like, you don’t wear, it doesn’t fit or it’s out of style, just commit and make forward progress. If your closet is overwhelming to you, try to pull maybe a bag or so of clothes that you want to sell or donate and take that next step. I would love to see your closets and your progress! Send me your pics at info@getyourprettyon.com, tag me on facebook or DM me on Instagram. I’m going to hold you accountable and we’re gonna do this together!
Your turn! Are you starting big or starting small? It doesn’t matter just as long as you start somewhere!
Below are some simple products that can make a big difference in organizing your closet and storing your seasonal clothes!
Do you struggle to put outfits together? Are you stuck in a yoga pants rut? Not sure if you can make the latest trends work for you? You’re in the right place!
I’m Alison, a mom of three and recovering yoga pants addict on a mission to make getting dressed and feeling pretty the easiest thing you do all day! Learn more about my story HERE.
I am so glad I was part of the Fall 2019 Style Challenge. It gave me confidence and so many great outfitt ideas. The ladies in the group were very supportive and I will defintetly be doing another challenge in the future.
Betty Weyandt December 20, 2019
I’ve been participating in the GYPO Style Challenges for three years now and I’ve loved it. I’ve always loved clothes, but I didn’t know how to put outfits together. My closet is now full of mix-and-match outfits, I have learned how to dress myself, and there is no more stress in figuring out to wear. The private FB group is full of wonderful ladies that build each other up. It’s so fun and is seriously the best group on FB.
Kirstin Rasmussen November 20, 2019
Get Your Pretty On has changed my life, seriously. I have always chased what is trendy but found from season to season, that things go out of style and I was wasting money on items that I would only end up wearing a few times. GYPO has enabled me to simplify my closet, helps me make smarter purchasing decisions, and I feel so put together and confident using the outfit formulas that are provided. This program is a GAME CHANGER. I've been following GYPO for a few years now and my only regret is not jumping on board sooner.
Michelle Kline November 20, 2019
Great community of ladies, helping each other look stylish, without breaking the bank, and using much of what you already own.
Chosen Faith November 19, 2019
GYPO challenges have been one of the best things I have done! It had taught me so much more than just creating a closet of clothes that I love but also to have confidence in myself, how to pick and choose colors that work for me instead of against, and had given a wonderful community of Pretties who are so special.
Maraline Freeman October 16, 2019
I love GYPO!!! I finally feel put together and stylish! The shopping lists and outfit combinations make shopping and getting dressed effortless.
Krista Probst October 16, 2019
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