One of the very best ways to feel good in your clothes is to make peace with your natural body type. And I’m not talking about your weight.
I’m talking about your height, your facial features, your torso shape, your leg length, your waist/hip ratio, your natural limb shape - all of it.
Because when you’re good with your body, you dress your body according to what is is - not what you wish it could be.
I’m 5’0” and I look 5’0.” I could follow popular fashion advice and attempt to “lengthen the leg” with long dresses, bootcut pants, and other elongated styles. But these styles actually make me look SHORTER. They create cognitive dissonance, swallowing me in an elongated line that isn’t native to my body. Nobody thinks I look taller.
It’s like putting round glasses on a very square face: all you do is draw attention to how square the face really is, when there was nothing wrong with the square face in the first place.
I look my best when I honor how my body actually looks, which is short, slightly wide, and made up of blunt circle shapes. That’s what it is, that’s what it wants to be, and there’s no value judgment in that. I look best in shorter fit and flare dresses, boydcon dresses that stay close to my body (ending right below my knee at the longest), and skinny pants that taper at the ankle. I look best in jewelry featuring blunt circles or squares - a sharp triangle just makes me look rounder in comparison. I’m petite, so I look best in styles that are petite as well, without wafting too far away from the body or sitting on top of me with a heavy structure.
The result is harmony, just like in a color analysis. When I wear colors that are foreign to my body, the result is a disconnect between the brilliant truth of how I really look and the costume I’ve put on. The same goes for style.
Image analysis isn’t quite as simple as “I’m tall, so I’ll wear long lines and call it a day” or “I have sharp features so I’ll wear only triangle and diamond shapes.” But harmonizing the proportions, patterns, and other design details of your clothing with your natural body type will always result in incredible sparkle. When you add your seasonal colors to the mix, it gets even better.