Style hacks for ‘plus size women’
EVERYONE should wear anything that makes them feel comfortable but it is also very important to know your body shape, size and skin tone.
Often times people associate price with quality, which obviously has a correlation in that great quality garments take precision, a lot of hours to make and very skilled workforce — world class designers in the likes of Vivienne Westwood or Ozwald Boateng — which then make the clothes expensive but all that means nothing if worn by someone who has not taken time to educate themselves about what suits them and what doesn’t.
The most common body shape for women in the world is the rectangle shape which encompasses about 46 percent of all women, but on the other end of the spectrum from petite is the oval shape or the plus size, which is one in five of every woman.
Last week we dealt with the petite side and we got overwhelming feedback from the other side who then said if we can also take something from their side.
What is more ideal for Plus Size women?
I am quite a contrarian and against the popular opinion that plus size women should wear loose fitting or baggy clothes.
Based on my own research and experience as a stylist and image consultant, loose clothes like dress shirts and maxi dresses make you look wider and big clothes make you look bigger (unless that is what you want then that is perfectly fine, as a disclaimer I am not saying looking bigger or wider is a bad thing but in response to most of your emails and Whatsapp messages I am giving advice to plus size women who want to look slimmer or dress according to their body shape).
Another style mistake that most plus size women make is of not wearing the right under garments.
Often times we see women in a nice long dress accentuating their body nicely then there appears a straight line across their stomach and cutting through their bum showing their underwear which is a disservice to your overall look. I would suggest wearing full, seamless underwear that wont show some horizontal lines across your tummy.
Speaking of undergarments, most boutiques offer bra measurements service where you can go and have your bust measured and get a fitted bra that accommodates the whole breast tissue into the bra cup unlike what most women do that the bra upper and underwires cuts across the breast tissue instead of it seating nicely on the chest and rib cage respectively.
Thick fabrics really look nice on plus size women.
I would hugely suggest wearing structured clothes, reason being if you wear thin materials like silk (even though silk and satin make you look slimmer) it reveals the cellulite on your legs or some contours on your bum which is not very flattering, again not to say cellulite is bad but if you wish to conceal it then your best option is thicker and structured fabrics.
Dressing tonally or monochromatic is also ideal for plus size women.
Same as for petite women, having one colour from top to bottom creates a vertical line which in-turn elongates your body making you look taller and slimmer especially if you wear an open front light coloured jacket.
Tight clothes make you look thicker and fitted clothes make you look slimmer, there is a difference.
Always take your clothes to the tailor for alterations.
Most women struggle buying clothes that fit their hips and their waist perfectly because most off-the-rack clothes do not cater for such body types, however, buying a garment that fits your hips perfectly but a size bigger on your waist will make your tailor’s job easier for alteration and also make sure when you are buying clothes the materials have to be stretchy.
Belts also creates an optical illusion of a thinner waist, the more wider the belt the better.