How to Look Taller
No matter your body shape, you can find ways to dress that make you look taller, if that is your goal.
The trick is to make a continuous line with few breaks within the outfit to distract the eye.
When dressing to look taller, think of using narrow front panels or vertical stripes as with what happens with the princess seam. Princess seams are generally very flattering on most shapes in both regular and plus sizes.
Patterns and embellishments in a center vertical panel will also draw the eye in and up. These simple tricks can cause the body to look elongated.
Wearing the same colors on top and bottom, otherwise known as forming monochromatic outfits, helps to make the body look long and continuous.
Avoid adding volume to the middle or bottom of your outfit, such as with large belts or boot-leg pants, because the eye will be drawn towards the widest area of your outfit, interrupting the flow that causes you to appear tall and lean, because adding large volume to the middle or bottom will catch the eye and cause a break in the lines.
How to Look Taller
No matter your body shape, you can find ways to dress that make you look taller, if that is your goal.
The trick is to make a continuous line with few breaks within the outfit to distract the eye.
When dressing to look taller, think of using narrow front panels or vertical stripes as with what happens with the princess seam. Princess seams are generally very flattering on most shapes in both regular and plus sizes.
Patterns and embellishments in a center vertical panel will also draw the eye in and up. These simple tricks can cause the body to look elongated.
Wearing the same colors on top and bottom, otherwise known as forming monochromatic outfits, helps to make the body look long and continuous.
Avoid adding volume to the middle or bottom of your outfit, such as with large belts or boot-leg pants, because the eye will be drawn towards the widest area of your outfit, interrupting the flow that causes you to appear tall and lean, because adding large volume to the middle or bottom will catch the eye and cause a break in the lines.
How to Look Thinner
The tricks for looking thinner are similar to those employed to look taller.
Use vertical lines and continuous lines to draw the eyes in to the vertical line of the body. Below the bust and waist darts draw an imaginary vertical line and are a good alternative for creating volume. Together with the solid color, help to elongate and think the body appearance.
Choose flowing fabrics that can easily disguise parts of the body you want to make thinner, and use long skirts to elongate the legs. Be sure the flowy fabrics do not cling to the body and create unintended focal points on the body.
Colors are also important when your goal is to appear thinner. Use dark, neutral tones to draw attention away from areas that you wish to disguise and make less prominent. Below you can see how a lighter color bottom, will draw your eye to the skirt.
Lines Horizontal and Vertical Make a Difference
A line is just a line, right? Not true! Our eyes can play tricks on us, and as savvy sewists we can use this effect to our advantage. Two lines of the same length can look shorter or longer simply because of their direction and how they are placed in relation to other lines or shapes. You can manipulate lines in your garments through your choice of fabric texture and pattern, by using blocks of solid-colored fabrics, and by considering where seams and darts will fall on your body.
In general, your eye will follow the direction of the lines until the line is stopped by a seam or by another line. For instance, a square neck will stop and create a horizontal line which may act as a dividing line, you may prefer a V or circle neck to keep the eye moving. Square necks are particularly difficult for the plus sized wearer, in that the roundness of the bust does not always fit within the confines of the horizontal line and will buckle woven fabrics in unplanned places.
Below, the dark color will slim the bottom half, but it does also draw a line at the waist.
So, in order to create a lean silhouette, use vertically striped fabric and/or choose a pattern without a visible waist seam. In order to make an area of the body appear larger, you may wish to use a fabric with a horizontal line in the texture or pattern, such as in the bust area.
Diagonal lines tend to be universally flattering, so give them a try!
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