Hello, Imogen! I love reading your blog and I get so excited to incorporate trends into my existing wardrobe. Here’s my challenge: I’m having knee surgery. The healing time will be about 3 months and I’m already so tired of wearing stretchy workout pants (the only pants I own that fit over my knee brace) and athletic shoes (for stability). I’m sure I’m not the only person to have my options limited for health reasons. Any ideas? Suggestions?
Not sure how chunky your athletic shoes need to be, but if possible, stay away from the big white ones which will just draw attention to themselves. If you can, look at some of the mary-jane style athletic shoes that you can get from the sports shoe companies instead of a traditional sneaker. If you have to wear the traditional style, look for a pair with a black sole, as the white sole will become like a beacon on your feet.
Maxi dresses and skirts that come pretty much to the ground are the only option I can think of that you’d be easily able to get on and off with your brace, but cover everything up and basically hide your shoes.
You may also find that you will be able to wear a flat knee-high or calf boot as your knee heels up, as the leather round your ankle will give you extra stability. If you do make it into knee-high boots, you will be able to wear midi-length skirts and dresses too, covering your brace.
Good luck!
Ouch–been there, done that. I would recommend looking for shoes like Naturalizer sport, or Easy Spirit etc., or sport/running sandals. Although you need stability, the regular athletic sneakers are much heavier than you think, and can cause stress in your knee (wish I had realized that before I caused my own knee more stress by wearing them).
You might be able to wear gaucho pants although they might be harder to find since they are not “in” now. or dressier car-wash styles. I often wore shorts or knee-length skirts and just didn’t care who saw I had a brace. Unless it’s a huge brace, it really won’t be obvious under a skirt that’s just below the knee.
Last Wednesday I went to see a surgeon about my knee. I wore a kaftan just as suggested, only shorter – with wide legged jeans underneath. It worked very nicely.
This is great! You still manage to be trendy and fashionable without sacrificing the safeness of your injury. Thanks for sharing this.. Kudos!
Thanks, Imogen, for the great suggestions! I’ll have to pick up some dark-colored athletic mary janes.