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How Do You Ask for Custom Picks When You've Gained Weight? If your body has changed and you're not sure how to tell your stylist what you actually want ...
If your body has changed and you're not sure how to tell your stylist what you actually want now, here's the short version: just say it plainly, share your current measurements, and tell us how you want to feel in the clothes. This post walks through exactly how to have that conversation, for anyone who feels a little unsure about asking for pieces that fit the body they have right now.
Weight shifts. It happens with a new baby, a new medication, a birthday with a zero in it, a stressful stretch, or nothing you can point to at all. It's one of the most normal things a body does. So when you sit down to request custom picks, the most helpful thing you can do is describe the body you have today, not the one from two years ago or the one you're hoping for next spring.
That sounds obvious, but a lot of women hand over old measurements out of habit, or guess at a size because they haven't checked lately. Then the pieces arrive and something's off, and it feels like the styling missed. Nine times out of ten it's just outdated numbers. So take five minutes and measure fresh. Bust, waist, and hips, plus your current jeans size and your usual top size. If you're between sizes right now, tell us that too. "I'm in a 12 on the bottom but the 14 waistband feels better" is genuinely useful information, and it's the kind of thing we'd rather know up front.
Here's where a lot of requests go sideways. It's easy to frame everything around what you're trying to cover. But "I want to hide my stomach" gives a stylist way less to work with than "I want to feel put together at school pickup without tugging at my shirt all morning."
Feel-based requests get you better clothes. If you tell us you want to feel comfortable and confident in a fitted top instead of swimming in something baggy, we'll steer toward soft fabrics with a little stretch, a defined waist, and a length that actually stays put when you reach into the backseat. If you tell us you feel best with your arms covered right now, we'll lean into three-quarter sleeves and lightweight layers. Either way, the goal is the same: pieces that make you feel like yourself, not pieces that apologize for you.
And for what it's worth, comfort and fit are health matters too, not just style ones. Clothing that pinches or digs isn't doing your body any favors. The Mayo Clinic's guidance on healthy body image is a good reminder that how we treat ourselves, including how we dress, feeds directly into how we feel day to day. Getting dressed should add to that, not chip away at it.
When your size has shifted recently, or is still shifting, the fabric matters as much as the cut. This is the moment to ask for forgiving, adaptable pieces on purpose.
Tell your stylist you want fabrics with give. Ponte knit, jersey, anything with a touch of spandex, ribbed materials that stretch and recover. These are the pieces that fit comfortably across a range, so if your body changes another few pounds in either direction this summer, they still feel right. A structured woven blazer with zero stretch will fit exactly one size and nothing else. A knit blazer will follow you. When you're not sure where you'll land, ask for the knit.
Same logic goes for waistbands. Ask for elastic-back or pull-on styles when you want breathing room, and wrap dresses or tie-waists when you want to control the fit yourself day to day. You are allowed to prioritize comfort. That's not settling. That's smart.
This part saves everyone time. If you've decided you're done with skinny jeans, or you don't want anything cropped right now, or bodycon is a hard no this season, say so. A custom request works best when it has real edges.
You don't owe anyone an explanation, either. "No cropped tops please" is a complete sentence. We'd genuinely rather know than send three things you'll never take the tags off of. And if your preferences are new, if you used to love something and it just doesn't feel like you anymore, that's fine too. Bodies change and so does taste. Both are allowed to.
If asking for a whole new set of pieces feels like a lot right now, don't. Ask for two or three items you can actually build around. A pair of pants that fit your current shape and feel good all day. One top that layers over everything. A dress that doesn't require a plan.
Getting a couple of things right does more for how you feel than a closet full of maybes. Once you see how well fresh measurements and honest feel-based requests translate into pieces that actually work, it's easy to ask for more. But you get to move at your own pace here. The point was never to buy a new wardrobe. The point is to feel good in the one you've got, starting with clothes that fit the you of right now.
That's really the whole thing. Give us today's numbers, tell us how you want to feel, ask for fabrics that move, and name your hard nos. Everything else is our job.