Mommy Chic

I just finished working on a new YouTube series, Big Girl in a Skinny World, for Marie Claire magazine's Hello Style channel launching on April 15.  While I'm not a plus size, I learned a ton about fashion.  The other day I took LO to a play group and the hostess commented on how fancy I was dressed.  All I did was wear a bright colored Old Navy top with jeans, a necklace and cuff bracelet and voila!  It's not that I looked great, it's just that I looked put together.  As the fashionistas would say, I accessorized.  Which really says a lot about how sloppy I must look on a regular basis if that's all it took to wow the other mommies.

This got me thinking.  Most professions have uniforms.  Doctors get the white coats, policemen get the blue outfits, even the check-out lady at the grocery store has a uniform.  I think Mommies have a uniform of sorts too.  I call it Mommy chic, which is misleading because it's anything but.  It's loose fitting pants, tennis shoes and a cotton t-shirt or sweatshirt with crusted food particles, spit-up and other souvenirs from the day.  And don't forget the ponytail.  Because who has time for the flattening iron?

Really, this would be more appropriate:

But we can't all walk around in haz-mat suits every day.  So here's my take on what every cool mommy needs for a day at the "office."

1. Shirt you don't care about.  It will become a canvas.

2.  Pants you don't care about.  These need to actually fit, not be ones you used to wear before you got pregnant that you still wear with the button undone.

3. Flat, slip-on shoes because you don't have any free hands to tie anything and you may need to sprint after runaway toddlers at a moment's notice.  The slip-on feature also makes it easy to dump playground sand out of your shoes whenever necessary.

4.  Sunglasses you don't care about.  Even if you don't live in sunny California, because the reasons to hide your identity seem to be multiplying.

5.  Accessories you don't care about.  Children love to pull really hard on shiny things.

Now take all of the above, hold your head high and imagine you look fabulous.  My wardrobe is full of stuff I don't care about but I'm making it my personal mission to add a splash of color here, a little flair there, and beef up my mommy style so I can go from playground pariah to mommy chic.  

Anyone with me?!