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Look slimmer the easy way
Feature
If you are trying hard to lose weight or if you have fallen off the diet wagon, you might be looking for quick fixes to look slimmer. Top stylists know that what you wear can visually pile on the pounds, but clothes can provide the illusion of shedding weight too.
Dressing down your lumps and bumps doesn’t mean hiding under baggy clothes. If you get it right, fashion can help you look as though you have diligently stuck to your good intentions. If you are dieting, wearing the right clothes gives you a valuable boost of confidence to keep going and look good while you are losing weight.
Here are some fashion secrets of looking slimmer.
Invest in a wrap dress. The wrap dress is universally flattering. It nips you in at the waist, emphasising your bust and skimming over any problem lumps and bumps. Designer Diane von Furstenberg explains: “A wrap dress does exactly what it claims: it wraps you. Because it’s typically made of jersey fabric, it moulds to your body, helping to sculpt it.”
Choose a V-neck. Gently plunging necklines narrow, emphasising the length of your neck and upper body and giving the illusion of a leaner line.
Avoid gathered fabrics and ruffles. Volume is still a big look, but this isn’t the best choice if you want to give the illusion of a slimmer figure. Extra fabric, ruffles, pleats or fussy details on the waist, hips or neckline will just make you look bulky. Stick with simple, clean lines that help define instead of bulking up.
Dress all in one colour. And it doesn’t have to be top-to-toe black. Wearing any dark tone will give you the same streamlined effect.
Keep trouser legs long: especially if you are wearing the season’s waist-defined wide-leg trousers. Trousers, whatever the style, should skim the floor. Though wide-legged trousers that emphasise your waist are perfectly slimming, so too are straight-leg cuts, as they give the appearance of a lean, long leg.
Always wear high heels. Whether you are petite or tall, if you are carrying extra weight you should always wear a higher heel. They might not be recommended by chiropodists, but they’ll make you stand straighter while lifting your bottom and elongating your legs. Unfortunately, foot-crippling pointed shoes are shapelier than round toes. A stylist’s tip is to match the shade of the shoe with your trousers, which draws the eye from the point of the toe to the torso, creating a seamless silhouette.
Wear vertical lines. They lengthen your figure because the eye naturally follows the pattern, making you look taller and thinner. The trick is not to overdo it: varying widths and colours can be distracting, not slimming. Try a turtleneck jumper under a striped dress in a basic shape or pin-striped trousers paired with a shirt in a solid colour.
Accessorise with long, bold necklaces. Bold or layered chains that fall past your bust line pull the eye downwards, making you appear trimmer.
Watch your hemline. Fashion has gone back to the mini skirt and dress. Though many women can get away with hemlines above the knee with thick black tights, going too mini will not do you any favours. The most flattering hemline for chunky legs is just below the knee, hiding the thickest areas and emphasising where your leg tapers between your thigh and your calf.
Wear the right size. It might be tempting to buy the smaller size, especially if you plan on losing weight, but this will make you look a dress size more. Squeezing into a smaller size creates more lumps and bumps and will zap your confidence.
Picture caption: Clothes can provide the illusion of slimness.
MyVillage 03rd April
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