How to Dress for Your Body Shape

One of our most frequently asked questions by clients is how to dress for your body shape. Everyone wants to look good in what they wear, and much of this revolves around choosing silhouettes, design details, and fabrics that work well on our unique bodies.

So, how do you know what styles will work for you? Consider your body type. The concept may seem simple enough, but often we look in the mirror and focus on minor details, which makes it difficult to understand our overall frame. Take a step back and consider your proportions altogether. It may help to dress in all black form-fitting clothes before looking in the mirror so that you see one continuous shape. Look to see if your widest point is your shoulders and bust, midsection, or hips and legs. Do you have a defined waistline? Are you on the shorter or taller end of the spectrum? These factors may be useful to consider as you get dressed.

If you can’t seem to figure out what shape you are, we recommend taking your measurements and entering them into this body type calculator. That’s how we start all of our styling appointments!

However, don’t get caught up in the numbers, this is not a matter of identifying flaws. This exercise will simply inform how you balance your features. Remember, we will be discussing general rules of thumb to bring balance to your silhouette. By no means do you have to follow these rules to look great! 

Petite Dressing

Dressing for petite body shape

One body type that can be challenging to dress is a petite frame. Petites are generally considered to be women under 5’4”. Before Petites can even consider which styles flatter their frame, they often must worry about clothing simply fitting correctly. Most petite women will run into issues like inseams being too long on pants, sleeves extending past their wrists, and long shirt hems that make tops look more like dresses.

One great trick is to find brands that offer special petite sizing. Banana Republic is a particularly good brand for Petites to shop from because of the incredible breadth of their petite selection, including classic styles like this utility jacket. Items labeled as petite will offer better fitting garments straight off the rack, but that doesn’t guarantee that they’ll always be perfect. If the garment still needs adjusting or if you fall in love with an item that is only offered in traditional sizing, the best thing you can do is to take it to a trusted tailor. Everyone – regardless of body type – should have a go-to tailor. A great fit is everything when you want to dress for your body shape!

Now that we have garment fit out of the way, let’s talk about how to flatter this body type. Many petite women seek to look taller and lengthen their frame. There are a few tricks to achieving this. In general, you will want to avoid styles that “cut” your figure up, such as horizontal stripes, midi skirts and culottes, and stark contrasts between your top and bottom (e.g., a black top and white pants). Bulkier fabrics and oversized silhouettes can easily overwhelm petite figures.

Instead, look for vertical lines, bottoms with hems either above the knee or down to the ankle, and monochromatic outfits to lengthen your frame. Solid dresses and jumpsuits are great for Petites because they create an uninterrupted line down the body. V-neck necklines are a great choice to create the illusion of a longer neck and torso. Additionally, slimmer silhouettes with defined waistlines will prevent your figure from being overwhelmed in fabric. Shoes can also be key in creating a flattering outfit. Nude pumps and pointed-toe shoes are as good as it gets to lengthen your legs, but any shoe with a heel will also work beautifully.

Balancing your Top and Bottom Halfhow to flatter your bottom half

Many women are wider on either the top or bottom half. These body types are determined by both bone structure and weight distribution. If you’re wider on one half, there are tons of styling tricks to dress for your body shape and balance your proportions. The strategies for these two body types will be the opposite.

Women who are wider on the bottom are commonly referred to as triangle or pear shapes. Their hips are wider than their shoulders and weight distributes in their lower half. If this describes your body type, you can balance your proportions by slimming your lower body and adding volume to your upper body. Some of the best styles to emphasize your chest and shoulders are bateau necklines, sweetheart necklines, off the shoulder tops, cap sleeves, puff sleeves, and shoulder pads. These will draw attention upward and outward. You can also accomplish this with accessories, such as scarves, necklaces, and earrings, or with bright colors. On the bottom, your best choices will be dark colors, vertical lines, simple designs, and straight-leg silhouettes. Skinny leg styles tend to emphasize curves on the bottom half, so look for styles that pull away from the ankle somewhat for a slimming effect.

Those that are wider on top, commonly referred to as an inverted triangle body shape, have proportionally broad shoulders and narrow hips. Women in this category may wish to balance their shape by slimming the upper body and adding volume to the lower body. To do this, pay attention to the neckline. Choose asymmetrical shapes, wide straps, and narrow v- or u-necks to downplay the proportion of your shoulders. Vertical lines and body-skimming shapes are also great on top. Avoid heavy embellishments, bright colors, and loud patterns on top, as these will draw attention upward. Direct attention downward instead. Opt for patterns, lighter colors, and embellishments on your lower half. It also looks great to balance your body’s volume on top with voluminous clothing on the bottom. Look for A-line skirts, wide-leg pants, and flared silhouettes to balance out your look.

Flattering your Midsection

dressing to flatter your midsection

If you previously identified your midsection as your widest point, you may be wondering how to flatter this area as you dress for your body shape. In fact, this is a common concern for women regardless of shape, whether you’re looking to disguise extra weight, define a boxy waistline, or emphasize a narrow waist. There are plenty of tried-and-true tips to make your midsection look great no matter your goal.

Most women realize that tight clingy clothing is going to draw attention to extra weight around their middle. However, baggy clothing isn’t the answer either. Sure, oversized clothing won’t cling to the area, but it will make you look larger and drown your shape. Flattering the stomach area is a balance of nipping in the waist and making sure the garment skims rather than clings. You’ll want some structural details on top combined with a great fit to nail this! 

Ruching and draping are among the best ways to create a great structure that pulls away from the body just enough. For example, draped dresses with an empire waist will allow the fabric to float over the midsection while still carving a narrow waistline for an ultra-flattering effect. Peplum blouses accomplish the same. Surplice tops and dresses allow for plenty of breathing room while the draping narrows your waistline for an hourglass effect. Other details to look for are a wrap, tie, and drawstring details at the waist.

Outerwear is another great tool to cinch in your waist. Cardigans and jackets do a few things for you: First, they create a vertical line down your body for a slimming effect. Second, when worn open, they visually cut off a few inches from either side of your midsection. Third, they are the ideal way to create a flattering shape for your body. A structured jacket with a contoured waistline will carve out a waistline for you no matter what top you have on underneath. Throw over a monochromatic outfit to enhance the effect!

Wrap up

Start with these guidelines to dress for your body shape and create balanced, beautiful overall looks. Of course, every body is different and can’t exactly be summed up by a simple shape. Consider what your goals are in dressing your body and pay attention to what makes you feel confident! Looking for a little more guidance? Fill out our contact form and let’s grab a coffee. We’d love to help.

Cincinnati Personal Shopper: Covid-19 Info

Our Cincinnati personal shopper services are completely Covid safe. Continue reading to find out what this process will look like in the middle of our pandemic. 

Local Cincinnati Personal Shopper

The COVID-19 pandemic has altered just about every aspect of our routines, including clothing shopping and maintaining our wardrobes. In the early months, many stores closed their doors. Now, most shops are open with reduced hours, reduced capacities, and require safety precautions such as wearing masks and using hand sanitizer upon entry.

Ever-changing store regulations combined with a work from home lifestyle have discouraged many of us from putting forth our typical effort into our appearance each morning. This is a shame, considering how starting the day with confidence can impact all domains of our lives!

Curating your image through clothing can help create a sense of identity, fuel your creative fire, and break the monotony of the long days at home. Personally, I find that the creativity and confidence that comes from effortful dressing makes me feel more present in other tasks throughout the day.

Instead of putting our wardrobe and styling on hold, let’s instead find ways to adapt to the circumstances. It’s the perfect time for those living in Cincinnati to consider hiring us as your personal shopper. There has never been a better time to experiment with your style—you can refine your look from the comfort of your home, judgment-free, before showing it off to friends and coworkers when life resumes.

It’s essential to invest in yourself, even if you don’t have your typical holiday events to find outfits for. There are options to make this investment safely in the midst of COVID, thanks to easily accessible online shopping and our low-contact services for residents seeking a Cincinnati personal shopper. And, with the extra time spent at home, it’s the ideal time to edit any chaotic closets so our favorite new items don’t get lost in the mess. 

Online Shopping

The boom of online retail has been a lifesaver for staying current on style while stuck at home. Every brand and item you could ever want, all at your fingertips. In many ways, it’s the perfect solution to COVID-friendly shopping.

You have eliminated the risks presented by leaving the house, entering a dressing room, and talking to sales associates in your go-to stores. Online shopping may minimize the risk of exposure, but it does present some practical challenges.

For example, having virtually unlimited options for purchases can be difficult to navigate and time-consuming. If you already hate shopping due to option-overload or inconsistent sizing, this could be particularly daunting.  Our tip for both issues is to stick to brands you know and trust. This will limit the number of items you have to sort through when searching for a particular product type.

Also, sizing and quality will be more predictable within a single brand than it is between different brands.  Do you love the way your pair of jeans feels when you put them on? Stick to that brand for future denim purchases! You will minimize returns and buyer’s remorse this way. After all, we’re all guilty of keeping imperfect items to avoid the hassle of returning them.

Because fit is often the biggest challenge of online shopping, we recommend doing a bit of research on an item before purchasing. Read reviews to see what other customers have to say about the fit. If the retailer you’re shopping with lists product measurements, this is also a huge help to make sure you get sizing right!

Online shopping is particularly appealing right now with holiday sales ramping up. With many sites offering 15, 20, even 30% off site wide, there’s no reason to put off purchases until Black Friday. Watch out for coupons from your favorite retailers. Black Friday historically generates a lot of foot traffic in stores, so online shopping is especially important this time of year to stay mindful of COVID concerns.

Interested in filling out your wardrobe but not interested in scrolling through page after page of products? Hire us as your Cincinnati personal shopper to comb through the best online retailers and local shops.

We’re Responding

While online shopping may be a convenient and responsible choice during this pandemic, it does come with its frustrations. Again, a great option for those looking to eliminate the stress and decision fatigue of this process is to hire us as your local Cincinnati personal shopper. We source the best options for your wardrobe, style, and price point so you’re not doing any guesswork and don’t have to leave the house.

In addition, we offer a range of other, all-virtual services such as a virtual closet clean-out for those wanting to take extra precautions. These options are great for those who may be part of a vulnerable population or are living with someone who is.

Of course, we take safety very seriously in every styling service. Communication will be over the phone or email whenever possible, and masks and social distancing will be utilized during in-person appointments to keep everyone safe. We want you to be comfortable!

If you have any additional requests regarding safety, please bring these to our attention so they may be accommodated. We are here to give you the best experience possible.

Home Organization

Cincinnati Personal Shopper

With all the extra time you are spending at home, it’s more important than ever to live in a well-organized space. Beyond the simple reason that it makes items easier to find, it can also help to reduce some of the baseline stress you feel day-to-day and elevate your mood. It feels great to see everything in its place instead of opening your closet door to a “to-do list.”

Plus, if you’re revamping your wardrobe during quarantine, it’s crucial to display your great new finds in a way that’s easy to see. This prevents all your hard work shopping (or our work in shopping for you!) from going to waste in a disorganized closet.

For those hiring us as your Cincinnati personal shopper, we highly recommend adding this closet clean-out service to complement the total experience. We would love to help you filter out old pieces you no longer wear, add in the new, and display the contents of your wardrobe in a way that makes getting dressed in the morning as streamlined as possible.

This may mean adding in clear drawers for accessories or investing in a set of slim, matching hangers to keep the area looking tidy. Closet clean-outs and organizational solutions are all done on a case-by-case basis to give you the best results!

Cincinnati Personal Shopper

Wrap-Up

While life during the pandemic may be stripped of our sense of normalcy, it should not be stripped of the joy and confidence that comes from living in style.

In fact, now is the perfect time to make this investment in yourself: let us help you eliminate the old from your wardrobe, fill in the gaps with pieces that work for your lifestyle and light you up, and organize your closet for an incredible total experience.

There are so many benefits to making these improvements to your life, from confidence to nailing down your style identity to simply making your morning routine a little easier. Best of all, we can accomplish this together in a way that is safe and socially distant. We will wear masks for all appointments and keep contact to a minimum, and we additionally offer fully virtual services. We love nothing more than helping you to feel your best—prioritize this in a time when so much else must be put on hold.

How to Accessorize Like A Stylist

How to Accessorize Like a Stylist

For many of us, how to ‘accessorize like a stylist’ doesn’t cross our minds when getting dressed in the morning—we simply throw on a pair of pants, a top, and add a pair of shoes on the way out the door. Learning to accessorize like a stylist can help you elevate even the most basic of outfits. A t-shirt and jeans transform from two default pieces thrown on to the kind of curated casual look that you never knew how to achieve. The blouse, trousers, and blazer you put together for work no longer look like you’re a girl playing dress-up, but now make you feel like the powerful put-together woman you are. Accessories make your outfit feel intentional. Yet so many of us are never taught how to coordinate them with our clothing. Maybe we were shown as children how to pair like-colors together in clothing and refined this skill as we got older, but if you’re like me, no one ever taught you what accessories go with what, how many pieces of jewelry are appropriate at one time, or what your jewelry collection should look like. Let’s fix that and discuss it now!

Focus on One Area

For those that are feeling totally lost, the best advice is to focus on one area of the body to accessorize per outfit. What do you want to accent? Think about your favorite features. If you love your hair or want to draw attention upward, work with headbands, hairpins, scrunchies, and hats. If you like simpler tops or want to show off your pretty collarbones, try focusing on necklaces. Love your new manicure? Play it up by adding a few rings. Using this approach of focusing on one area at a time will prevent the sloppy look that results from throwing on every piece you own. People’s eyes will focus on the area you choose to accent instead of jumping from a statement earring to a chunky necklace to a busy patterned scarf. Make your outfit flow by directing people’s attention. It is impossible here not to mention the famous quote:

“Before you leave the house, look in the mirror and take one thing off.”

Coco Chanel

This emphasizes that to accessorize like a stylist, one must do it deliberately and with restraint. However, that does NOT mean you must limit yourself to only one accessory! This is a mere starting point from which you can slowly build. Perhaps you decided that necklaces are your area of focus and pair a few delicate gold chains for a layered look. Adding a statement earring will distract from these and could make the area feel cluttered. So, if you want to add another accessory to complement the necklace focal point, try a couple of delicate rings. These won’t compete for attention or clutter the area, and they match the aesthetic you have established.

Consider your outfit

accessorize like a stylist

Considering your outfit—neckline, colors, silhouette, and overall tone—is equally important in choosing appropriate accessories. Let your intuition lead. There are no perfect rules to accessorize like a stylist. Get started by asking yourself what you want your outfit to communicate. If you like the billowy organic shape of your dress, emphasize this with the contrasting clean lines of geometric earrings. Alternatively, add more organic shapes (think teardrop earrings, an asymmetric bag, and hammered-effect hardware) to emphasize the look in a different way. Wanting to make a feminine top work with your less feminine style? Pair it with a menswear-inspired watch to tone it down.

It is also helpful to consider necklace shape and neckline pairings. Again, you can choose pairings that mirror each other, like a v-neck button-down and a pendant necklace that hangs perfectly in the opening, or pairings that offset each other, like a square neck blouse and a choker necklace that follows the curve of your neck. Make sure necklaces are the right length, too, so they don’t slip into and back out of your top all day. They should either lay against your bare chest or lay comfortably over your top. For dresses and tops with more complex necklines, cut-outs, or a voluminous cowl neck, your best bet is to skip the necklace and choose a pair of earrings instead.

Also, beware of the outdated idea that all your hardware must match in an outfit. Just because your purse has a gold clasp does not mean your jewelry and jacket zipper must all be gold. Life is for having fun, anyway—mix and match if you want! It can help to integrate silver and gold jewelry in close proximity to make this look intentional. For example, a stack of mixed silver and gold rings will do the trick perfectly.

Building Your Collection

accessorize like a stylist

Now that you have some ideas about jewelry and accessory pairings, you may be eager to click “add to cart” and start playing with these ideas. Before you do, look at your most worn outfits—what types of accessories would translate well across all these looks? Do you own these accessories already? If not, make a shopping list for yourself. Thoughtful purchasing is the first step to accessorize like a stylist. It’s all too easy to find 10 pairs of perfect hoop earrings if you just buy anything that catches your eye. You will end up spending more money and having less versatile choices this way. Instead, fill the holes in your accessory selection and be honest with yourself about what you will wear often. If you wear scarves every day below 60 degrees, it might make sense to have a few to choose from. Be more sparing in buying trend pieces. Instead, invest in timeless pieces that can be layered and worn in many ways for years to come. It’s wise to buy these classics with quality in mind, whereas costume jewelry tends to be a more appropriate choice for fun trendy pieces. This way, you can participate in the season’s newest and most exciting trends without breaking the bank, and still have great pieces for all the days in between. Beyond jewelry, consider adding a couple of scarves, hats, hair accessories, belts, and purses to your collection.

If this is starting to sound to you like an expensive endeavor, you’re right. It may not be realistic to check all the items off your shopping list right away. My favorite way to start is by choosing your favorite type of jewelry to wear. I love wearing earrings, so I would choose a simple set of gold studs that I could wear every single day until I am ready to expand my selection once again. This would add a little shine to any look and feel the least intimidating for while I get used to wearing jewelry on a regular basis. Don’t make a chunky, colorful statement necklace your first purchase!

Wrap-Up

Accessorizing can be intimidating if you haven’t put much thought into it before. Stick to these guidelines to get more comfortable pairing jewelry and other accessories with your favorite looks. The right accents can bring any outfit to life! It’s a great way to rediscover your love for old clothing. Still feeling a little fuzzy about choosing the right accessories for you? Learn to accessorize like a stylist from a stylist. Sign up for a consultation here for a more complete styling insight and product guidance experience. We would love to help. And, be sure to check back weekly for more fashion inspiration on our blog page!