More often than not, when I first put on my clothes (with the way the pieces fit off-the-rack), the look is dreadfully unflattering and feels like the clothes are “wearing” me. But a few strategic tweaks, rolls, and tucks are usually all that’s needed to turn the look around from frumpy to flattering! Below, I’ve outlined some simple guidelines that I dress by, and you can watch the quick video here.
1. Wear skin-toned shoes, or pair shoes with same-colored bottoms
The easiest and most effective tip! Whether it’s wearing dark jeans with dark shoes, bare legs with nude pumps, or my winter default – black tights with black booties.
2. Don’t drown out your waistline
This can be done in a variety of ways – by adding a belt over a looser outfit, by tucking in a long top near your natural waist, or by wearing high rise bottoms, just to name a few!
Below, on the left side, my sweater and skirt connected via straight lines on both sides to form one shapeless, rectangular outfit. Since this was a lower rise skirt, I rolled up the waistband so that the waistline fit higher rise near my navel, and then half tucked the sweater to further define my waistline.
3. Finish with a long & lean outer layer
Both jackets below actually work, but I prefer the longer one as it really streamlines the overall look. Oftentimes petite ladies are afraid of midi length pieces, but I love a longer cardigan or jacket for creating visually long lines.
For a shorter jacket, for me the key is to choose slightly cropped ones like below which hit above the widest part of my body (my hips), rather than add bulk to the widest area.
