Use Your Wardrobe To Help With Your New Year’s Resolutions: Looking Taller Helps You Look Thinner
January 3, 2014
By Brian Maynor
January 3, 2014
Raise your hand if your New Year’s resolution includes some iteration of improving your health and body. Take heart and know you are not alone.
A new year is synonymous with new beginnings and the ideal temporal marker for change. While reading this awesome article by Francesca Gino for Harvard Business Review about transitioning resolutions into habits: http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/12/the-key-to-making-new-years-resolutions-stick/ I started thinking about wardrobe and observing how people often self-sabotage their goals of self improvement with how they dress. You want to look in the mirror and like what you see. It’s motivation and positive reinforcement to keep working for change. Here are a few simple tricks you can use that greatly impact your reflection:
1. Invert your color placement. You’ve read it here before: the easiest way to look thinner is to elongate your vertical line, and while straight leg pants are a great way to do that, there are other options. One of those options is to invert your color blocking. Wearing a dark color on the bottom makes it disappear, but it also shortens your overall look, making your torso do all the work.
Try wearing a dark color on top and lighter pants. This will draw attention to your legs and when paired with a knee-high boot in the same color family you instantly create a two-part leg line extending it visually. A high heel will only help the extension, but it is not necessary to create the effect.
2. Minimize your extra holiday pounds. We all indulge during the holidays and tend to exercise less. It may be a common fact, but you certainly don’t need to broadcast it. Hide any extra weight with a darker color. This is the added bonus of inverting your color palette. A dark top and matching jacket make the perfect camouflage for an extended stomach.
Continue the effect with a longer, fitted shirt worn with a shorter jacket with an asymmetrical zipper. You will throw off the standard visual cues, like a vertical zipper running down the middle of your torso, creating a more flattering and interesting focal point. Plus any extra detailing you can add to your shoulders will pull the eye away from your midsection.
3. Column of color. An old-faithful theory updated. Pairing mid-wash jeans with a blue oxford are two colors close enough to match without being identical. The look is seamless and when paired with an accent chunky cardigan you look cozy and stylish.
Shawl collars are great because they add weight around your shoulders broadening them and framing your neck in a flattering ‘V’.
4. Accessories. When all else fails and you want to deflect attention, choose statement accessories. Large bags give you more to hide behind when carried in the crook of your arm thus offer minimizing coverage; while printed scarves always elicit compliments and provide the perfect place to show off your keen fashion sense by wearing vivid orchid, the Pantone color of 2014.
This is a time of beginnings and motivation for making change. Our lifestyle, eating habits and exercise routines are common areas we feel deficient, making them prime targets for change, but until they become habits you have a choice: self-help or self-sabotage. Which one are you going to choose?
Click on the images below to learn more about the outfit.
Click on the images below to learn more about the outfit.
I am always curious to hear about your weekend wardrobe dilemmas and help make your work wardrobe pull double duty. Email your questions, quandaries and conundrums to [email protected]. Also find each of these storyboards at http://brianmaynor.polyvore.com with links to purchase each item.
About Brian Maynor
Brian Maynor has built a reputation as one of the leading style coaches in the Southeast and is quickly expanding his eponymous company, BRIAN MAYNOR and his FIND, FLATTER & FLAUNT line of image consulting services. A professional with a fresh, upbeat and down-to-earth personality and boundless creative energy, he works frequently with with local celebrities; Fortune 500 companies and nonprofit organizations; modeling agencies; fashion designers; production companies; record labels; media and individuals. A regular contributor to various fashion blogs and online communities, Brian Maynor is one of the most trusted and recognized style experts in the region, utilizing his education and training as a broadcast journalist to serve as a style lecturer, emcee, and commentator for over a decade. He has appeared at fashion shows, expos, and charity fundraisers, as well as events with big brands like Banana Republic, Ann Taylor, Chico’s and Macy’s. His approach is innovative, creative and fashion-forward, balancing fresh, modern styles with classic pieces to keep one’s look grounded. To learn more, visit http://www.brianmaynor.com.
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