You know what’s funny about hating your body? The way you prioritize things. I never, never shopped for anything fashionable, partly because at the time affordable plus size clothing was still… well, a train wreck, but also because I just wanted to buy things that were comfortable and safe.
There were more expensive options back then that were slightly more youthful, but honestly, I didn’t have the money and I just didn’t feel worth it. I had this mantra that I would rather my kids look nice, even if that meant I looked like shit. Even if that meant I didn’t even have… a coat. I live in Ohio, we have a term here called “lake effect,” and up until three days ago, all I owned to get me through the winter was a 4X men’s fleece jacket I bought when I was nine months pregnant five years ago.
Almost every circumstance in my life has changed, but in my brain, I just didn’t feel like me having a winter coat was a priority over everything else everybody else probably needed.
Then lands’ End offered to send me a new Luxe Wool coat from their fall line, and still I was like, ummmm do I really need this?
Do I really need this!?
Brittany, STOP IT. Aside from the basic fact that yes, I need a coat, FLU SHOTS ARE NOT WINTER COATS, this is just another first in this whole valuing myself thing, and it feels damn good. Literally… because it’s cold outside right now, and we spent the weekend at pumpkin patches and looking at the leaves in the fields behind my parent’s house, and it’s nice to do those things without the wind cutting through your clothing and all your armpit hair growing back out of cave-woman like instinct.
Luxe Wool Scoopneck Coat in Juniper Green, size 16
Feeling super warm, and super worth it right now.
As stated above, this coat came to me courtesy Lands’ End, my opinions and smooth armpits are my own.
I LOVE it! And the green with your ginger hair is SMOKIN’ hot. Congratulations.
You’re on your way to serious self-love, in a non-pubescent boy meaning of the term!!
Beautiful! (The coat, and the lady in it.) And yes, you’re worth it!
Absolutely love the green!
what a great cut and color on you!
You look amazing…that’s a great color on you. And I have to say I’m totally jealous over the changing leaves on the trees. It really looks like fall in Ohio. Here in Houston, it’s still just hot and muggy and trees are about to die.
So cute! It makes me miss Toledo. A little bit. Not enough to move back or anything, because I only need a coat about 1 day a year down here in Texas. And even that’s iffy.
You totally deserve that coat and it looks AMAZING on you. That green is seriously your color. But I want to point out that it’s not a big deal if you haven’t bought a coat in five years. Not having a good winter coat, that’s a big deal and I’m sure a fleece was not doing the job. But if someone has a good coat, they don’t need to go buying one every other year or even after five years – that’s our consumer culture trying to convince us that a perfectly good coat needs replacing because new ones exist.
you look awesome! I’m gonna hop over to Land’s End and do a little virtual window shopping right now, hehe :)
LOVE it! I also do not have a winter coat. I wore my maternity jacket for years and I have not been pregnant in the winter for 5 years. Lol! I finally gave it away last year to a friend who was expecting a baby. Now I am coatless and I am too broke to buy one, oh well, such is life! :D
That is the coat I had my eye on – I saw it at Sears but it wasn’t on sale then! Love.
Steph
Beautiful, Brittany.
Love! This! Coat! The length is great as well!
I need a nonprint winter coat….had a great peacoat asome years back. However, in more recent years I tried “trendy” and, although that looks cute with Jeans they do not match well with
“I just didn’t feel worth it.” This. In the past I have berated myself with hateful comments because if I think it/feel it it will hurt less when someone else does. I don’t deserve nice clothes. I am not worth them. They don’t want someone like me in their brand. I spend less time being hateful to myself now but I still don’t feel worth it. My closet is full of clothes that are too small for me because I buy them hoping that on one of my random diets I will be able to fit in them.
Thank you for always sharing. Your blog and your readers help me understand that I am worth more.
You look fantastic!!! Beautiful color on you! Especially with your hair color.
I am so with you on this one, I had a plethora of inappropriate jackets and wore layers, but never had a sensible winter coat.
As of last week I bought my very first one (by this I mean one my Mum didnt buy me), it is navy and warm and very sensible (yet fashionable).
I still begrudged spending £65, but as an adult of 26 it is about time. :)
I LOVE that coat, and you look beautiful in it!
I live in Buffalo, NY, and also went *years* without a coat, because I hate dressing my body in recent years. I finally inherited a coat from a friend about four years ago and have been wearing that since, but it’s starting to get really worn. I’m inspired to go shop for a (Land’s End) coat!
Love, love, love, love, LOOOOVE!! Off to do some online shopping!!
This jacket looks super cute on you!! I LOVE IT!! I love this style of jacket!! It is fitted but not too tight :) So you still look amazing and girly but not like a marshmallow like the puffy jacket style!! YAY for colder weather coming!
Sexy!!!!!
Great coat- Great color and fit on you! You look fantastic.
I love this coat! I have been looking for a green pea coat for ages! I think that this might finally be the year that I get something for myself!
I wish I had your fashion sense. I would have skipped over the green and went for something black or brown :) And the outfits you pair up with bright colors – I’M TOO AFRAID! You look wonderful and you DO deserve a shiny new coat <3
Gorgeous! You look like a Land’s End model…oh…wait…you are…
Coats are one of the things I put on the “when I lose weight” list. Because they are expensive and I don’t want to buy a fat coat. Dumb. Thankfully, I don’t really need it that often in South Texas.
Love the coat Brittany. Question, where did you say you got your boots again?? I need some that fit around these calves and I remember you sharing the website… Can’t find it now.
They are Fitzwell wide calf boots- find them on Zappos and 6pm.com!
you look adorable in that coat! incidentally, I’m in the same boat as you…were….
The coat is beautiful and you are too!
Baahh–ZING! You look like how I imagine Fall in my head! BUT-$174…? Not even close to being in my budget. I will live through you!
I think this to myself every day as I walk through downtown Chicago on the way to/from work. Everyone looks put together EVEN if they’re commuters like me (we tend to wear backpacks & carry a bazillion other bags for all our crap since we’re an hour away from home all day). Just today I was thinking that this year I need to not “just put on more layers” under my huge hoodie, and instead get a real, adult-type, cute winter coat.
I love that color! Green peacoat – now on my list.
I love this coat – cute! Also – where did you get the boots your wearing?
Cute.
They are Fitzwell wide calf boots. You can find them on Zappos and 6pm.com!
I JUST bought that coat in Mustard and I LOVE it!! I also ordered some great wide-calf boots from zappos last week and I can’t wait for them to get here so I can see how they fit! BUT, I don’t have any jeans I can put IN my boots instead of OVER them… what jeans are you wearing in this photo?!?
I love the Rockstar jeans from Old Navy. They fit like jeggings. For me, only those type of pants work in tall boots.
The Sweetheart jeans from Old Navy are awesome too – they are not as jegging-like as the Rockstars but come in a lot of fun colors and are great for tall boots too! I just discovered them and may have bought 4 pairs in one trip (red, winter white and regular denim – oh and a pair of cropped ones too)!
Love the coat – that color is beautiful!
Love it. And thats a really great color on you.
Love the whole look!
I sooo LOV-EEEY that! Color, fit and style – absolutely Perfect and Fabulous on YOU!!!!
So so true. Most of my coats and such are accidental hand-me-downs from when my ex-husband moved out. Shameful. I lost weight a few years ago and bought really cute things. I loved dressing up. Now I hate it.
My son’s first homecoming is this weekend and my friend asked if I was going to buy a new outfit for the dinner. I kid you not, my silent thought was, “What’s the point? I’m still a fat cow. I’ll just be a fat cow in a new dress trying to pretend I’m not a fat cow.” Shopping is NOT fun when you have curves that extend beyond the single digit clothing.
I looooooooooooove that jacket and that shade of green is AMAZING!
How tall are you? I wear a 14/16 and I am only 5’4.5″. Sometimes I feel like things make me look like a box. I got two pairs of colored skinny jeans (dark teal blue and dark red), thanks to your showing us how it’s done in our size. I tried to pair them with boots, but end up looking stumpy. And, a too long coat makes me feel like a rectangle (long skirts, too). I am not quite short enough for petites…I wish I was just a couple inches taller. It seems easier to pull off this size when you are a little taller, rather than short and squat. :(
I am 5’8. I was nervous about the long coat, but I don’t feel too boxy in it.
As for the skinny jeans, I find I feel the most long looking in dark denim with boots, but I also love rolling the cuff of my skinny jeans once and wearing them with flats. I can take a pic of that tomorrow to post if it will help?
That coat looks amazing on you, and it makes me wish I still had red hair. FYI though, the link is to a different, not as cute, wouldn’t look very flattering on me coat!
No it’s actually THAT coat, I swear! I made the collar myself by not buttoning the top button. It was more flattering to my larger chest.
So you are saying that coat could actually work with big boobies? I’m IN!
In a perfect world, all my tops would be V-neck. It’s the only thing that flatter my chest, high cut necks make me feel like I have fabric stretched across my boobs and makes me look BROADER.
Brittany – I love that you are doing this ad campaign. And I wish I had seen about this coat – I already found one at Marshalls. Please tell Lands End to bring back the tweed/wool jumper that they had – it sold out of my size before I could buy it! I’m short so I often feel boxy in plus size items. Still, I’m going to check out Lands End at my local Sears this week.
Perfect! I had my eye on this exact coat on LE, but I wasn’t crazy about the scoop-neck look. It looks like you’ve just unbuttoned the top two buttons and it has a notched collar look. Thank you!
Wonder why they didn’t show it like this on their website?
Agree. The scoop neck only works on me with the collar, and it was simple enough to achieve, just as you said, by creating it where the top button is.