You can never look too tall! Even 6-foot, 50-something model Jerry Hall likes to look taller, in her monochromatic look with a V-neck and black fishnets to continue the long line.
One of my friends said he wasn’t fat, his legs were just too short. I guess that’s a common problem for many of us midlifers: we’d all look longer and leaner with maybe another foot of height.
I usually spend my time at fashion shows marveling at how long and lean the models are (OK, they are waaaaay too lean, but that’s another article.) In fashion, at least, taller women always look better in the clothes.
But height is something you either have naturally or you don’t: it’s not something you can change with diet or exercise like so many other body challenges.
So the best way to make yourself look taller and leaner is to use visual tricks.
This is a great fashion cycle to try and look taller and leaner since so many of the shapes – long tunics with leggings, long slim trousers, sheath dresses, etc.
Here are some quick fashion tips to add some visual height to your look:
- 1.Go monochromatic or tonal.
- Although women have long turned to all black as a no-brainer for dressing slimmer, you can also use other hues to create a longer line. I like different hues of the same color family: charcoal, silver and heather gray for example. What you don’t want to do is chop up your body with contrasting colors if you want to look taller, for example, wearing a white shirt with a black skirt.
- 2.Choose one strong vertical element.
- An unbuttoned jacket or vest can give you that strong vertical line that keeps the eye moving up and down, rather than across. The sheath dress is the perfect dress silhouette to create a strong vertical line. Slim pants worn with a tunic top, a long scarf wrapped around your neck with ends left dangling and layers of long necklaces all create a strong vertical presence as well. Even going with vertical seaming or prints can add to the eye traveling up and down rather than across.
- 3.Wear heels.
- The best way to visually increase your height is to physically increase your height. Even a slight heel (two inches or so) will improve the line of most outfits and give you a longer look. Even your boots can make you look taller: opt for sleek, knee-high boots and leggings or skinny jeans in the same color to create a long, unbroken line. Try legwear in the same color as your shoes for another great way to add visual height. And, of course, if you can wear really high heels, they are still the best way to look taller.
- 4.Try nude shoes.
- Hollywood’s trick to having endless gams is to wear nude shoes with bare (or seemingly bare) legs. Nude shoes look great with just about any color and you can even cheat to wear them with super sheer nude hose or nude-colored fishnets (Diane von Furstenberg uses this trick to make it look like she has flawless legs.) Red and black dresses look fresh and new when paired with nude shoes.
- 5. Add a V-neck top.
- The V-neck top adds visual height and elongates the neck. Even if you wear it layered (like a deep V-neck sweater with a tee layered under it) it will still give you a longer line than either a crew or boatneck top would. The deeper the V, the greater the illusion of height.
