Every so often, I like to travel outside my comfort zone and try styles and trends that deviate from my norm. Two trends that I’ve been dying to try (but never sure if they’d go well with my body type) are the cinched waist and culottes. After thinking about the history behind these styles, I finally decided to take the plunge!
Culottes and cinched waists have been a part of fashion history for a long time. In France, both styles have a very scandalous history! In college, I took a course on the French Revolution and was fascinated by everything that it entailed! I won’t go into the gory details, but in terms of fashion, culottes were controversial. They were most seen on aristocratic men and represented wealth and oppression. As for women, the corset has been around since the 16th century, but the Austrian princess turned French queen, Marie Antoinette, is always the one that comes to mind when I think of this style. She set the bar in French fashion with her huge, ornate gowns with tiny cinched waists, causing aristocratic women throughout France to follow suit. How did Marie Antoinette eat all that cake in a ridiculously tight corset?
Although these styles have a tumultuous history, they have found their way back on the fashion scene. Culottes are everywhere now and it’s not hard to see why. They are so comfortable! When I put on these high-waisted culottes, I felt amazing! Having given birth to two children, I love anything with a high waist, and the linen material is so light and breezy. They are great for the summer, but will also transitional well for the fall. (These pants are available in-store at H&M. Don’t forget to bring in a bag of used clothing to H&M to be recycled and receive 15% off your entire purchase! I’ve also put similar pairs at the bottom of this post that are available online.)
This cotton waist-cincher blouse just went on sale for $15! It’s also a lot more comfortable than I had originally anticipated! I had it tied pretty tight and it never bothered me at all. I could eat all the cake I want and not feel like I was going to burst! The dolman sleeves with the cinched waist actually made me look slightly curvaceous! I’ll take any curve I can get! It’s another good piece for the summer and fall. (It’s also available in orange.)
