WEARING:
Bailey44 Dress from Anthropologie (mine is older/sold out, but here is similar in lace, similar short sleeve, similar in petite, similar in multi-colors)
No6 Clog sandals
Candace Ang necklace
Jas MB handbag (link goes to black version)
RGB nail polish in coral
This is not my best outfit picture today, and I didn’t want to show you this one, but I am. For all this talk about me being “real” and “relatable” I’m starting to feel like a fake, because I never show you the flawed outfit pictures; the ones where my hips/saddlebags jut out IN SPITE of the Spanx I’m wearing. I choose to show you the pictures where my arm is down by my side so my left hip is strategically covered and all you can see is where my waist nips in just a bit. Like this one:
But there it is. I didn’t want you to see me like that. I wanted to control the way you saw me, making me appear more perfect, pretending that I don’t actually have hips/saddlebags. But is that what posting outfit pictures is about? being (or at least appearing) perfect? For a lot of fashion bloggers I feel like, yes, that’s what it IS about. But for me, it never has been. I’ve been posting my outfits since 2004 mainly because there weren’t any other “average” sized girls doing it, and also to show you what I love and how I wear it. I’ve never really thought I was trying to appear “perfect” or different, but it turns out, I kind of have.
Then again, why would we want to put anything other than our “best” pictures out there? I mean, theoretically, millions of people could see this picture (ha!), and is that how I want to appear to the multitudes? Now I’m making my head spin. It’s such a silly question, because both the pictures represent me, not one more than the other. The first one just allows you to see what I perceive as one of my “flaws” and the second one doesn’t.
Of course, everything we read and look at in print or online is edited, photo-shopped, and made to appear as “perfect” as possible. Which, theoretically, has been the appeal of fashion blogs: these girls are REAL, NOT edited, NOT photo-shopped. But are they? How long does it take to get the perfect shot? Do they touch up their pictures? Don’t they try to get the best angle?
Not that there’s anything wrong with that, after all, don’t we want to look as good as we can? If we’re going to put an image out there, don’t we want it to be the best we can find? Yes, of course, but isn’t it fun to see the “outtakes” and the not-so-perfect pictures sometimes too?
If you’re a blogger, how do you choose which outfit picture to post? do you try to minimize your perceived flaws?
As a reader, do you relate more to bloggers who look like you? do you appreciate their showing you their imperfections? or would you rather see an “edited” version?
I don´t know what to say…I hate all my pics!!! I am the less photogenic person in the world : ) But of course I tend to choose the best one, even when they look all crap, lol. Anyway, my pics are far from perfect and that’s the way I like them, as real as a picture can get, they are only a pic take in a moment and they never be your “real” you. I find soooo boring seeing perfection, that’s what magazines are I thought blogs were something else…
I don’t know, I usually take about 2 quick runs of 10 shots each, pick the picture I like best, and go with it. I don’t spend a lot of time optimizing but I don’t think there’s anything wrong with picking a flattering angle and lighting.
there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that…we should want to look our most flattering i think, but i guess where i get “concerned” is that i try to pretend that my hips aren’t there – when they really are. maybe i shouldn’t try to cover them up as much as i do…
Maybe I’m not the most perceptive person in the world (although, I’d like to think I’m pretty keen on human nature), but I didnt’ pick up on what you were trying to show us in the two photos until I read what you wrote, explaining the difference between your 2 poses. I’m the person that usually looks at the “after” picture posted by a plastic surgeon or skin care miracle brand and says, “You know, there’s really not that much difference between the pre and the post photo, so why bother? It’s not like she looks 22 again, anyway!” I don’t think it’s in our nature to zoom in on other people’s “flaws” half as much as it is our nature to be critical of our own perceived flaws. I know that I’ve posted pictures of myself on Facebook that my friends and husband love and compliment, while I cringe and notice only my 3rd chin or how red my face gets in the heat. It reminds me of something you said about bloggers that want to appear perfect: I used to follow a fashion blog of a young, perfectly blond, perfectly put-together woman who was constantly talking about how perfectly blond and perfectly put-together she was. It didn’t take me long to figure out that she wasn’t the person I wanted to follow. She was BORING. I love your blog because I can relate to you; not just in terms of being average size, but because you don’t always portray life as perfect. It’s HARD. And you just don’t pretend. Keep posting pics, because I love them, bumps, Spanx and all!!!
I’ve thought about this a lot. I too do real posts, i.e. what I actually wear to work or hang out or go to weddings or whatever. But I certainly choose pictures that show me in my best light. In the end, I figure, nobody wants to look at ugly pictures of me very often. So I try intersperse the “best light” shots with the occasional “dear god what happened.” Once I put up a picture of myself with wet hair, in a crappy white tee, wearing reading glasses. Kind of as a baseline of truth. Then the well-made up, reasonably well-coiffed pictures are simply telling a more entertaining part of the story, not a falsehood.
If that all makes sense.