You Can’t Look Too Skinny or Too Tall: Figure Fixers & the Perfect Fit

By Stacey Mayesh

Since I spend most of my day in closets and fitting rooms with naked women, I see every body issue. Follow these simple fashion tips to give your body assets you never knew you had.

1. Body Shape Fashion Tips: Make Your Legs Look Miles Long
Wear pants with a wide, swishy leg (a little 1970s-esqe) and pair with a big chunky-heel platform or wedge shoe. Keep the pants really, really long, hemmed a mere ¼ inch above the floor. With the shoe covered, you’re magically 3 inches taller. For dresses, keep your tights and shoes the same color to elongate your legs. I like black super-opaque tights (Wolford tights are my fave, but DKNY and Club Monaco also make great ones) with a black chunky platform shoe or ankle bootie. This trick also works with leggings—black leggings with a chunky black platform bootie. DO NOT wear shoes with ankle straps, which cut your legs off and make you look stumpy.
Buy Rick Owens Lilies Jersey Wide-Leg Pants, $480, at net-a-porter.com

Buy Style&co. Pants, Stretch Wide Leg, $24.98, at macys.com

2. For a Slimmer Body, Elongate Your Lines
Dress monochromatically or in tonal mixes instead of contrasting colors. With less jarring transitions, the eye moves more smoothly across your look, giving the impression of longer, leaner lines. (Pictured here on Kate Bosworth)

3. Flatten Your Abs For a Perfect Fit
Yummie Tummie is a genius collection of sexy shape wear—comfy lingerie meant to be seen. It was created by Heather Thomson, a stylist with celeb cred, after she gave birth to her first child. YT has a midsection control panel built into the collection’s tees and tanks to act as an easy figure fixer.
Buy Yummie Tummie Sweetie Bodysuit, $86, at net-a-porter.com

4. Fit into Your Jeans with This Great Figure Fixer
We hippy women have an annoying problem—we buy pants to fit our hips and thighs, and then we’re left with a huge gap of fabric at the back of the pant waist. I’ve tried to have my tailor tackle the problem with a nip at the waist, but then the pants look slightly off. I’m too much of a perfectionist to settle for that. Invisibelt is a soft, clear plastic belt that closes the gap without creating a belt-buckle bulge, oh-so-unsightly with a fitted top.
Buy Invisibelt in naked, $19.95, at amazon.com

5. Find the Perfect Fit with the Right Cup Size
Does your bra fit properly? Doubtful, unless you’ve been professionally fitted. And if you’ve just had a baby, this is a crucial step in reclaiming your body. Most women buy bras that are too large across the back and too small in the cup. Take this test—try your favorite bra one number smaller and one cup-size larger. I guarantee you’ll have a better fit.
Buy Jezebel Bra Edgy Girl Seamless Push Up in black, $29, at macys.com

6. The Ultimate in Fashion Tips: Bye-Bye Panty Lines
Commando undies—Ok, I’m sure most of you know about these, but JUST in case you don’t, get some ASAP!! The seamless style has laser cut edges to ensure no visible panty lines. Without elastic trim, they pretty much eradicate “side buldge” for the illusion of a slimmer body as well.
Buy Commando Classic Girl Short in nude, $26, at shopbop.com

7. Figure Fixers: Play with Proportion
With fashion all about lean lines right now, it’s important to understand how to play with silhouettes. For example, if you’re wearing a narrow bottom like leggings or skinny jeans, you need a fuller or longer top or else you’ll look slutty. If you’re wearing a narrow, fitted top, it’s fun to play with some of the season’s wider bottoms, such as harem-inspired pants or fuller, slouchy slinky pants.

8. For the Perfect Fit, You Can’t Be Too Skinny
Skinny jeans must be skinny. Again and again I see many of my clients not wearing their skinny jeans skinny enough. This is especially true in fall and winter in “boot-tuck” season. If you want to wear your skinny jeans tucked into knee-high boots, jeans must be super duper tight (preferably with some stretch in them) or else they’ll bag out at the knee and won’t look right. If you’re not tucking, it’s less of an issue. For the perfect fit, try Charlotte Russe skinnies.
Buy Charlotte Russe Pull On Legging (medium rinse), $29.50, at charlotterusse.com

How do you flatter your figure? Tweet @PageDaily or post a tip on our Facebook wall

Stacey Mayesh, Fashion Contributing Editor

I am a NYC-based fashion stylist who has worked with top tier magazines (Marie Claire, InStyle, Elle, Lucky), and celebs (Selma Blair, Jessica Alba, Susan Sarandon, Sean Combs) for 15 years. I was recently featured in Vogue and on NBC Weekend Today. Read more . . .