The Style Company Personal Style Consultants

Following on from our last style post, we thought we would educate and inspire you with our top three tips for ‘dressing your body proportions'.

You will know (from our last post), where you are proportionately long and short in relation to other areas of your body.

Proportions in clothing refer to the individual pieces of an outfit in relation to the other pieces of the outfit.

Keep these styling tips in mind the next time you get dressed, and you'll be well on your way to fashion coolness, calmness and poise. And understanding these fundamentals will ultimately make you appear taller and slimmer…amen to that!

1. Balance relaxed oversized trends with slim cuts.

If you're wearing a more floaty billowy blouse, or a relaxed oversized cardi or jersey, pair it with something in more of a slim fit below. Or, if you're wearing a full swingy skirt, or wide-legged trousers, pair it with a more tailored top.

Drowning in fabric doesn't do anyone any favours, as you lose sight of any shape you do have, but head-to-toe-tightness isn't usually a good look either.

2. To optimise ‘illusion dressing' to its best, always dress to create an hourglass. This effectively means creating shape through your waist. One of the easiest ways to do this is to cinch your waist with a belt. If belts aren't your thing, try creating shape with structured tops, cardis and jackets that nip in around the slimmest part of your waist.

3. Know your ideal hem lengths. A general rule of thumb is to finish your hems at slim points on your silhouette. Hems are horizontal lines and effectively break up your silhouette, making you appear shorter and heavier. Not many of us want that. So it pays to check that your hem lengths always finish on your slim points.

So have a play with these styling tips and adapt them to suit your proportions. We would love to hear if you notice the difference.