Embrace Your Size: Fashion tips for the fuller figure

No matter what size or shape you are, it is very tricky to get fashion right.

It can be even harder if you are a curvy lady, as not everything that walks down the catwalk is suited for ladies with plus size figures.  This is why it is important to learn what styles, colours, textures and patterns suit your individual size.

It may take time to learn, but it is a very useful skill to have when shopping and deciding on which outfit to wear.  Feeling comfortable in your own skin is something every woman struggles with at one time or another, and a big part of that is finding the right clothes that both fit properly and complement your shape.

Finding clothes that perfectly suit your body and make you look and feel good can give you a great sense of confidence and empowerment.  So for a change, instead of covering your figure, find ways to flatter it.

“Dress to feel attractive to yourself, and others will notice and feel attracted to you too”- Trinny and Susannah from What your clothes say about you.

One tip that all fashion insiders share is to hide the bits you are uncomfortable about and learn to appreciate your good points.

We all have good and bad parts, so train yourself to focus on the positive.  A good way to discover your attributes is to stand in front of a mirror and study your body.  Ask yourself what bits you find most attractive and what features people compliment you on.

Once you have identified your best features, embrace them! 

Go shopping for the styles that show them off, revealing the parts that make you a woman, and remember that shop assistants are paid to help you, even if they do seem intimidating at times.

To draw attention to your good parts and to make the most of the bad, try some effective ‘camouflaging.’  This term simply means to disguise certain body parts so they give the illusion of being lengthened, slimmed or toned.  Just like smaller women add padding to create the image of having a larger bust or more definition in their waist.

Posture

Before we get to discussing clothes, it is essential that the woman wearing them has a good posture, as this greatly influences how clothes will look on your frame.

Nobody looks good slouching, as this hunches the shoulders forward making the stomach stick out.  It also shortens your torso.

Make a mental note to stand tall, lengthening your figure, and when out and about in the street, check your posture in a shop window to see if you are walking tall or if you have slipped back into an unflattering slouch.

Proportions

Keeping everything in good proportion is a useful skill to have, as it is easy to make the mistake of wearing a top that is too long; shortening and widening your legs, or wearing necklines that thicken the neck.

It is valuable to be aware of how fabric curves around your shape, and how specific cuts and styles shorten or lengthen certain body parts. 

Keeping body parts in balance influences how you look in various styles, and can be the difference between making or breaking an outfit.

Colour

It is important to spend time finding out which colours suit your individual complexion, as everyone is suited to different shades.  For larger ladies, however, it is usually the safer option to select to wear a fabric in a darker colour, especially when wearing something fitted. 

Dark neutral colours will make you look more slender as they have the ability to absorb light and retreat into the background, rather than reflect light and highlight folds of flesh as lighter colours can do.

As we have all heard, black is the safest as it is the most slimming and supposedly the kindest colour on lumps and bumps.  However, going back to the importance of understanding what shades best suit your complexion, not all of us are suited to black.  If black isn’t your shade, other options include dark browns, charcoal or dark grey. 

Patterns

For voluptuous women, patterns can be flattering when worn on the right part of the body.

Big prints and thick fabrics are suited on the slimmest sections of the body, and smaller patterns should be worn on the larger parts.

However, you must be careful the pattern doesn’t clump together, as one of the aims in fashion is to elongate the body, and some patterns can work against this.

Try to avoid contrasting patterns, and stick to wearing them either only on the top or bottom, or on a long patterned dress, keeping everything in proportion. 

Vertical vs. Horizontal

Vertical lines go up and down, and horizontal flows from side to side. Wearing stripes in fashion is one of the biggest faults curvy women can make, as they have the power to make you look much wider than you really are.

Leah Feldon, author of Does This Make Me Look Fat? suggests the theory about these contrasting stripes is that the faster the eye scans a line, the longer and narrower the area it defines will appear.  The eye scans vertical lines quickly, making your body seem taller and slimmer.  On the other hand, the eye tends to follow horizontal lines slowly, so your shape looks wider and shorter.

Despite this theory, not all vertical stripes are safe.  Avoid broad vertical lines that are widely spaced apart, as lots of space between stripes leads the eye to look side to side as well as up and down, making you appear wide rather than narrow.

Shawls and Scarves

Both shawls and scarves can become good investments for curvaceous women as they turn attention up and away from heavy hips and legs. 

Shawls and scarves help to balance bottom-heavy ladies by adding extra dimension on the top. They can also be used to camouflage heavy arms.

Women with larger busts and shorter necks should choose to wear long and narrow scarves loosely, as anything bulky and thick around this area can magnify the size of the chest and neck.

The Fitted T

It is important to note that there is a vital difference between wearing a well-fitted shirt and one that is too tight.  Wearing clothes that are fitted in the right places can work to your advantage by making you seem slimmer and complementing your attributes.

Look for a fitted t-shirt that is right for your body shape, flaunting your good parts and covering the parts you are uncomfortable with.  Be careful not to go too tight, as this will enlarge and reveal excess flesh on your torso.

When deciding on a top, look at your back view as well as your front, as there may also be a spill-over of skin there, caused by your bra strap.

Excess skin around the bra strap can be reduced with a correctly fitted bra.

It is important that all women get regular fittings every two years, as we all alter size and shape with lifestyle changes. A  correctly fitted bra plays a role in influencing how you look in t-shirts, supporting and lifting your breasts off your rib cage, which improves your posture, and thus effects how clothing items fit your frame.

Watch out for…

Tight Waistbands

These are unfriendly to any body shape, but especially larger women as they compress and squeeze the skin so that it sticks out, making you look bulky.  Instead, opt for a loose waistband as it won’t squeeze your skin, but rather it will simply skim the waist and make you look and feel slimmer.

FLOURISH tip: if you can’t slide a couple of fingers between your skin and the waistband, it is probably too tight.

Hemlines

Depending on where a hemline hits the calf, it can have the power to make your legs look slender or bigger. Hemlines that hit the heaviest part of your leg give the illusion of adding kilograms. On women with larger legs, long skirts can be more flattering to your figure if they are hemmed slightly lower down, at the narrowest part of the calf.

Shiny Textures

Reflective surfaces have the tendency to make the body’s surface area look bigger. This is because when light bounces off the fabric, it tricks the eye into enlarging the clothing item and your figure. At all costs, try to keep shiny textures to a minimum and avoid wearing them on larger body parts.

So, when deciding which item of clothing to buy or wear, take your time to think about what suits your body shape and what styles embrace your size. Find the items which complement and flaunt your curvy attributes, and camouflage the parts you are uncomfortable with. Why not go ahead and flatter your shape instead of covering it up?

For more information on effective camouflaging techniques see Does This Make Me Look Fat? by Leah Feldon.  For other useful tips on plus size fashion and other shapes and sizes try Big Living: Size 16 Plus – Transform Your Image and Your Life by Angela Sandler and Trinny & Susannah: What Your Clothes say About You – How to Look Different, Act Different and Feel Different by Trinny Woodall & Susannah Constantine. 

Home

HOME