There are lots of problems with the fit of commercially made garments, these are things that if you’re making the garment you can alter out of the pattern. But before you buy, make sure these are not problems built into the garment for you. There are some common issues with fit that are reasonably easy…
How the sleeve is cut and fits into a top or jacket can change the way a garment appears on your body. If you have a deeper, lower cut armhole, this will add some bulk to your chest region, so is great for women with narrower shoulders (A shapes) or smaller busts who would like…
1. If you choose to wear anything that is boxy or baggy, without belting, it will overwhelm your figure. 2. Large scale clothes with no shaping will make you look like you’re dressing up in your parents clothes. 3. Very tailored shaping such as peplums that you just can’t fill out won’t work for your…
\ Niamh was looking through some old photo albums, you know, the ones with pictures of me in my primary school classes, she was going through and picking me out of the sea of faces in each class. When I asked her how she knew it was me, she said: “see, your face is shiny…
I was asked the other day by a reader where are the defining points to figure out body shape. How to Define Your Body Shape Is it bust, waist and hips, shoulders waist and hips and where are the hips defined from – the thigh or up on the buttock area? For me (and I’m sure there…
I get so many requests about how to dress 8 shape bodies, probably because they are so ignored by most image and style books. So I asked Aileen Lane of Nutri-Style in Singapore, who is an 8 shape if she’d share her experiences with you on how she dresses her shape. Here is her post:…
People always ask me where the best point is to end their tops and jackets. As the hem of a top creates a horizontal line, the best place is on a narrow point, rather than a wide point. If you are a body shape that has wider hips/thighs than waist, A, X, H, 8 (or…
I have a friend who has sturdy calves, she is so embarrassed by them she won’t wear a skirt, and suffers through our hot, hot summers in pants every day. Sure, you can do that, and pants and jeans are an easy way to cover up your calves, but why not think about some alternatives.…
I was recently asked by a reader how to minimize her broad square shoulders. Now this is a problem I’d love to have, but this is not about me. This post is for the women who feel their shoulders are too broad and make them feel masculine. Look for narrower necklines, so narrow V necks,…
I’ve had a couple of reader requests recently about help for fitting pants over their flat bottoms. I too have this as an issue, and find that the extra fabric that my butt doesn’t fill out just pools unattractively underneath my bottom. One thing I’ve taken to doing more so that this is not an…
Following on from yesterday’s post on Mad Men style and body shapes. There were some comments on the dislike of the patterns that Peggy wears. So it got me to think about why each character wears the prints and patterns chosen for them. Peggy – she’s a woman in a man’s world. She wears checks…
I’ve finally got into the Mad Men rage, it’s not big here in Australia but as Deja Pseu and others have all talked about it being a great show, I decided to get it on DVD and watch – I’m now up to Series 3 and loving it! Recently I was emailed by a reader…
Patent leather can’t be polished up in the same way with shoe polish that regular leather works with, so how do you remove scuff marks? Soap and water can get some marks off. One thing you could try is to put some some non-acetone nail polish remove on a cotton pad and wipe over the…
“Do you think certain body types/faces look better in certain styles of clothes – and what I mean here is either casual, classic, sporty, etc.I have an X shape (hourglass) and with it being spring going into summer here in Canada, everyone wears t-shirts and capris/shorts a lot, but I find I look dumpy/matronly in…
So finally to our Real Life O body shape. When I was looking at these photos I got out my Trinny and Susannah The Body Shape Bibleto see how they had photographed, and I noticed that their models didn’t have bras on! As I’ve repeatedly said, a well fitting bra can give you the illusion…
. Here is the lovely Jan Fisher, Image Coach again, we bought this dress (same shop as we bought the beads) on Monday. It’s a versatile colour and can be teamed with blue, red, purple, chartreuse amongst others. Jan wanted me to cut off her head, but I just couldn’t do it to her. What…
Basic Question – Do body shapes change as we grow older / fatter / slimmer? Post pregnancy, my hips are definitely wider than my chest, but it wasn’t always so…. To answer – YES they do. Body shapes: As noted an 8 shape when carrying extra weight may turn more H shape, or may just…
I was lucky enough to spend the day yesterday with Jan Fisher, AICI FLC a New Zealand based image consultant who you have met before here and here with her ideas for dressing women of a certain age. We went out for lunch and dropped into a local boutique and discovered this great necklace, which…
Yes, body shapes can be confusing, we are all unique, so there is no exact standard for body shapes, but these are guidelines. You can be a mix of body shapes, though you will probably find that you fall more into one shape than another. If you have the top half of an A and…
The I body shape is characterised by a long lean body, shoulders are similar to hips, though sometimes marginally wider, (but never linebacker). There isn’t a particularly defied waist, many describe themselves as boyish. Here are 3 examples. How to dress your I shape body: If you want to create more curves, look for volume…
One of the comments left on a post the other day was this: jinnan-tonnyx said… Can you explain more about why trousers pull across the crotch on X shapes? I am an X and whenever I buy a new pair of pants my husband always says they don’t fit right – and I tell him,…
