I Didn’t Need a Stylist to Look Slimmer, and Now I Dress Way Better

Not everyone is born with an innate sense of style and beauty. My name is Julia and I’m one of the people that lack this quality. Fortunately, nothing is impossible: anyone can learn to combine clothes so that they hide their flaws and highlight their advantages. The most important thing is to know the basic rules and follow them.

I had never been able to style and match clothes so I’ve always worn boring outfits. But I finally got tired of it.

We at Bright Side believe that we need to try and be perfect. This is why I decided to take part in an experiment. My goal was to make the clothes I wear a bit more diverse but I was supposed to do it on my own, without stylists. However, I could use the Internet to get some tips. I’ve found out which clothes can make me look great and which don’t and now I can give you a few of tips that really work.

In the bonus feature of this article, you can learn what else I’ve learned from this experiment aside from choosing clothes.

So, I went to the store (many times) and started trying on a lot of things, and here’s what I found.

• It’s believed that vertical stripes make us look slimmer and horizontal ones make us look bigger. But in the theory of German physicist, Hermann von Helmholtz, a square that consists of horizontal lines seems taller than it is, and a square that contains vertical lines looks wider.
  I also found that horizontal stripes don’t always make you look bigger. It was a big revelation for me which is going to make my wardrobe much more diverse.

• Stylists say to buy clothes that fit you. Smaller sizes accentuate all the negatives. I have tried on the same dress but in different sizes. Now I’ve realized that half of the clothes I have need to be thrown away — they’re too tight.

Color illusion

• It’s known that we can use color to change the visual proportions of our bodies. For example, black makes us look slimmer due to the effect of irradiation: black colors absorb light better and they make things look smaller.
  This effect is obvious in the photos. The wide horizontal stripe on the waist makes me look much thinner. I was amazed with the result.

• Black shoes are considered classic but if you’re going to wear skin tone tights, nude-colored shoes look much better because they make the legs appear longer. If you choose the same color for tights and shoes, the leg and the shoes look like one single piece, making the legs seem longer than they actually are.
• I’ve tried on black and beige shoes: the black had 2.5 times of a higher heel but my legs still look better in the beige ones.

• Again, according to Hermann von Helmholtz, a square, limited by black stripes from the top and from the bottom, looks taller than a square limited by white stripes. This is why skirts and dresses with a black stripe at the bottom should not be combined with black tights. Visually, this combination will split part of the body and you will end up looking shorter and wider than you wanted. I’d always thought that the black color made us look slimmer no matter what. But it turned out that the same dress might look very different on you depending on the color of your tights.

• I’d known that horizontal stripes made us look bigger. But as it turns out, there are some nuances we need to know: wide stripes don’t hide flaws, they make us look more massive. But thin horizontal stripes highlight the silhouette and hide the flaws.
• I tried on a wide-striped dress and it didn’t make me look any better. But the second dress had thin stripes. When I tried that one on, I realized that all the stories about stripes making us look bigger are not true. Just look at how great these thin stripes are at highlighting the breasts and making the hips look thinner!

• Midi-skirts can make you look taller and more elegant. But it’s quite tricky for shorter women. Midi-dresses and skirts have to be worn correctly and the best way to keep from making mistakes is by using shoes with heels — the higher the better. The photo shows that heels make this skirt look much better.

• The lines that go to the center of the body make the waist look thinner and make the upper and lower parts of the body look bigger. This is the Müller-Lyer illusion at work. Such clothes make us look taller and slimmer. The straight coat doesn’t make me seem any more elegant. So, when I want to look fancier, I wear a slim-fitted coat.

• Vertical contrasting stripes on the sides are a perfect way to make your body look slimmer. In this case, the optical illusion helps you. And if the stripes are curved a little, the body will have an hourglass shape.
• I think that every woman needs this type of dress because it will make a bigger lady look smaller, and a slimmer woman can attain a more defined body shape.

This experiment helped me to discover a lot of new things about my body. I am sure that from now on, I won’t be scared of buying clothes with thin horizontal stripes and I will consider buying dresses with contrasting colors on the sides. I will buy bigger-sized clothing and nude-colored shoes.

Additionally, I have also found that it is absolutely necessary to try on the clothes in colors I have never even considered before. It’s useful to try and look at yourself from a different angle and you will see that some clothes look good on you too, along with supermodels in magazines.

Bonus: Selfies in fitting rooms help to avoid bad spontaneous purchases.

Taking selfies in fitting rooms is a great way to avoid spontaneous purchases that often turn out to be bad. When you take a picture of yourself in every new look, you can see yourself from a different angle and understand whether you look good in these clothes or not.

What do you think about this experiment? Maybe you have your own fashion hacks that help you choose clothes. Care to share them with us?