It’s all too often that style and comfort are mutually contradictory. You can look great, or you can feel good, but often fashion requires you to make sacrifices. Smart shoes pinch, hurt your ankles, or have heels that concentrate all the weight of your body on a single point. The professional suit you need to wear to impress in that meeting might be just what you need to look professional, but it’s the enemy of a comfortable commute and you run the risk of emerging from the train looking sweaty and crumpled.
Today we’re looking at ways you can restore the balance – perfect comfort might not always be possible. It’s unlikely that women’s sliders are going to be acceptable office attire if you’re in a public facing role for a professional company, but we can certainly ensure the odds are tipped a little more in favour of comfort and feeling good!
Shoes
The first thing to do is make sure you’re wearing the right size and fitting of shoe. Size isn’t the where your search for the right shoe fits – thought it’s important to check regularly to make sure you’re wearing the right size of shoe. Changes in size aren’t common once you’re fully grown, but they’re not unheard of, and even small changes can have a dramatic effect.
On top of size, you need to look at width, and the construction of the toe: feet are all different, and two size nines, for example, might not be able to share the same shoes comfortably! If you’re feet are a little wider, or narrower, or you have a broad spread of toes, then you might find that a shoe that ‘on paper’ is perfect for you is either uncomfortable or actually hazardous to your health!
Simply making sure your shoe fits properly – and talking to an assistant at a shoe shop could get you the advice you need to make sure you have the right fit and style of shoe for your feet – could be the step you need to take to boost your comfort, but there is more you could do. If you habitually ear heels to work you’re putting your back and neck under huge stress simply to conform with an arbitrary standard. Cut out the heels and you cut at the risk of back and neck pain that could be a real problem in later life!
Clothes
Comfort in clothing is more about being realistic and kind to yourself. Stop squeezing into that pair of trousers that, you have admit, no longer fit and treat yourself to some new ones that reflect your real waistline!
If you’re not able to replace clothes, then it might be worth acquiring the skills to alter them, taking them in or letting them out as you need to. This is a handy skill to acquire as it means never having to say goodbye to clothes, as you gain and lose weight: your favourites can remain in rotation, always fitting comfortably, just as they should.