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Dress to Flatter Your Body

We are told to do it, but sometimes if you don’t know where to start, it can be awfully hard to dress to flatter your body!

It’s important to learn because the fashion industry just gives you all these clothes and expects you to just figure it out. Well this leads to many women confused and wearing the wrong things! Myself included!

A good example is the short shorts! These are not meant for really anyone over the age of 20! (There are always exceptions though!) Even myself I look just so terrible in them and I refuse to be seen with one in public. My poor pasty legs!

I thought I would come up with some examples or rules that could help anyone in their journey to wearing more flattering, and age appropriate clothes.

Six Rules to Think To Dress to Flatter Your Body

1.Draw attention to the smallest parts of your body.

This is a great way to appear smaller than you are. It’s all about tricking the eye. You should know where you are bigger and smaller and where you should be focusing on your body. Pay attention to hem lines and see how they measure up to the parts that you are trying to flatter. Your wardrobe needs to work around YOUR body, not the other way around.

I have always been a big fan of cigarette pants or capri pants because of the fact that the hem line shows off your ankles. Which if you are trying to be subtly sexy, this is a great way!

Some other tiny parts to you are:

  • ankles / calves
  • wrists / forearms
  • waist (the natural waist)
  • neck

The goal here is to always be accentuating the littlest parts.

2.Find something that you love about yourself

This one can be quite hard. You will need to be honest with yourself, but this also builds confidence. If you aren’t already, you will become confident in yourself because you will know you’re beautiful!

It can be brutal, but once you have found it, you will be so proud of yourself and who you are. Sometimes you might think you love something, for example your bust. But after you take a deeper look at yourself and see that your long sleek neck is something of beauty you will begin building a wardrobe around your neck.

It doesn’t have to be the breasts or derriere. Those are obvious but there are more!

 

Subtle sexy parts on a woman’s body:

  • collarbone
  • elegant long neck
  • arms (upper and lower)
  • smaller waist
  • beautiful hips
  • little ankles
  • calves
  • upper legs
  • feet

Don’t necessarily take cues from the media. Look at yourself and see where you love it the most. What part of you right now are you most proud of? Don’t forget, it changes throughout the seasons of your life, so embrace who you are now!

Since I am rather flat-chested, I tend to focus mostly on my collarbone. Purchasing shirts which necklines are mostly boat necks. I tend to steer clear of V-necks because there is not much to fill out the shirt. Not only do you want to accentuate what you have, you don’t want to make what you DON’T have obvious either!

 

3.Find colors that suit you

When I was younger I used to wear a lot of bright colors. I loved it so much! I would mix and match and I didn’t care. Now, I tend to stick to a darker palate of clothes. I feel more confident in my navy blues, blacks, greys, beige and my brightest color is red. But not a whole red shirt, more like little details. Recently, my husband bought me a salmon pink shirt and he says it looks good. It’s a bit out of my comfort zone, but it is rather subtle.

There are a couple reasons why.

I work in a very hot environment, especially in the summer time. So to avoid the drenched-look I apt for the darker colors to hide all those marks. It can be rather embarrassing to be talking to customers or other people and have a soaked shirt. Your work environment should have a bit of say of what your wardrobe will look like. Unless you’re retired then you can do whatever you want!

I think dark flatters my skin tone right now. Perhaps when I get older, I might steer clear of the dark hues at least on my shirts. The tip is usually the darker colors are very stark on older women and can bring out the wrinkles. Not too sure if that’s true, but as for now, it’s working for me.

A great tip to see if the color suits you or not is to take the shirt or piece of fabric, go to a mirror that is well-lit (natural light is always best, but we don’t always have a choice) then hold it up to the bottom of your chin or neck. If the shirt darkens your face or just doesn’t flatter your face then the color is no good for you. If the color brightens up and glows on your skin, then you know you must buy 5 of them!

4.Pattern or no? All you need is confidence!

This one is a bit tough for me.

I am a simple gal and sometimes the patterns for me are too much. The craziest I’ll go are stripes. However, I see other women wearing polka dots or floral and they look wonderful! I do believe that any woman can wear patterns, it is just how you wear it really matters.

You can trick anyone that you’re wearing something amazing if you wear it with confidence. The second you doubt yourself and your body language changes, that is when people notice.

Patterns can flatter the body if they are the appropriate patterns. A 50 year old woman wearing little kittens all over her sweater might not be the wisest choice. Try and stick to the basics of patterns. Stripes, dots, chevrons, and there are so much more.

They are great at distracting away from a part of your body that you don’t like too much and focusing on what you love. Experiment with the ones that excite you. Remember, when you are wearing something that others might doubt, and you wear it with the utmost confidence, then you can persuade anyone that it looks great!

I tend to focus patterns mainly on my pants and wear a solid shirt. There are the exception when I wear my striped shirts, but then I go solid on the pants. Always stick to only one pattern per outfit!

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5.Texture

Fabrics are really important when choosing a wardrobe.

How does it fit on your body? Is it tight? Too baggy? Is it supposed to wrinkle?

It can bring a shirt from looking crisp and neat to sloppy in a second. Usually the rule of thumb was to stick to natural fibers because they held out the longest and they looked great. Now, it’s not so one-sided anymore.

As I do agree, that natural fibers are usually softer or better feeling, polyester has made such advancements that it is to rival with! It doesn’t wrinkle if your sitting in it for a long time. The look isn’t that plastic look like few decades ago. Its washing instructions are easy. And many clothes are made with it now!

Paying attention to washing instructions is very important before you buy a piece. Some of my shirts are hand wash only and I know that I have that setting on my washer, but it just can be something that drives me away from wearing it because I don’t want to ruin it or it get all stretched out.

6.Always be re-accessing every few years

Every few years you will have to be brutally honest with yourself. We go through many life issues in a few years that can change how clothes look on you. Sometimes even your attitudes change and your clothes don’t reflect that. Perhaps you are wanting to dress more modestly and your spaghetti straps are no longer the look your going for.

Hemlines usually get longer, shirts don’t plunge as deep as once before, but that isn’t necessarily the case. Look at yourself and see where you want to change and where you want to stay the same. But don’t be blinded by what your comfortable with because that can make it much worse for you.

In the end, always dress to flatter your body…

… and not the runway.

Wearing something that really flatters your body can be difficult. But as time passes and you begin finding the clothes that really are you, it becomes easier. It can be overwhelming when you want to change your whole wardrobe but that is really expensive and really scary to think all the clothes you were wearing are garbage. When looking at new clothes, try to look at these six tips and that might help!

Be gentle and slowly change until all the clothes are to your liking. But the crazy thing is, you will never be happy with all your clothes. You will always sway to a few items and choose other ones. Your taste is always evolving.

Just remember to have fun and you are what makes you who you are, not your clothes. They are just accessories that compliment you!

Do you find it hard to find clothes to flatter your body?

Until next time

Keep it elegant!

Thursday 12th of November 2020

thank youuuu