Some blogs have suggested that short girls should only wear coats or jackets no longer than their knees. I agree that is a good length for petite women for a clean-cut and simple silhouette. However, if you haven’t tried wearing long coat, i.e. coats that reach your mid calves or even ankles, then you are missing out.
Long coats do the best job in creating a column of colors and make petite women look taller, the same rationale why maxi dresses and maxi skirts elongate short girls. Plus, aren’t long coats more practical than shorter coats? They keep you warmer in the winter if your area is freezing like in New York City or Chicago.
Long coats do the best job in creating a column of colors and make petite women look taller, the same rationale why maxi dresses and maxi skirts elongate short girls.
Plus, aren’t long coats more practical than shorter coats? They keep you warmer in the winter if your area is freezing like in New York City or Chicago.
The easiest way to trick eyes into believing you are taller than you are is to wear vertical prints.
They can draw eyes up and down and create the illusion of height. Wearing vertical prints in any garment can lengthen your body. If you want your legs to appear taller, wearing pants in vertical prints works effectively.
When I talk about how you can make yourself look taller, one golden rule is to keep the prints in scale with your body size.
Some days we just want to look our best, and your clothes are obviously a huge part of that. But, what you may not know is that clothes and styling techniques can teach you how to look taller and slimmer.
This post is not about dieting or endorsing a culture that praises the skinny body type. But rather it is taking your body shape, and your clothes and giving you the most flattering outfit inspirations and style tips.
I use these tips fairly regularly, but let’s not forget there are days where our outfits just won’t be picture-worthy and that is ok too. So before I teach you how to dress to look slim and tall, let’s accept ourselves for exactly how we are day-to-day.
Yes, absolutely! Just like makeup enhances your natural beauty, the following style tips will enhance your style and body shape. I am not endorsing losing weight, fad diets, or any exercise program to look taller and slimmer.
These are styling techniques that will give you a streamlined look that highlights your best assets and keeps you from making fashion mistakes that are aging your or unflattering.
Look at these tips as building upon your natural figure, and giving you some extra confidence, rather than any sort of deceptive practice.
And, even if you don’t want to specifically dress to look tall and slim, these tips will help you improve your style by highlighting your best features, and avoiding frumpy proportions.
NOTE: There are before and after images to show you how to look slimmer and taller. However, none of these outfits are “mistakes” or “bad”. It is just to show you how certain styling techniques can help you appear taller and thinner. So please don’t try to judge one outfit as “better” than the other. Some of these outfits are more trendy, some are more classic, and they are all shown as examples so that you can see the actual proportion changes.
We may earn a commission from you clicking a link below. And as an amazon associate, we earn on qualifying purchases. Full affiliate policy, here.
Let’s start with an easy step first! You want to look taller? Great, throw on a pair of heels.
Duh! But in all honesty, wearing your heels does more than just make you taller. It also helps add some length to your lower proportions, therefore making you appear taller.
Nude heels are a great option as well because they make your legs seem endless and really draw out the lower half of your body.
Does Stress Effect Height IncreaseAnother great thing about heels is they often help your posture, so you stand up straighter, also helping you look tall and slim.
I know what you’re thinking. Heels! Ugh, my feet just can’t. But this tip is not about adding a 5 inch stilettos into your closet and killing your feet on a daily basis. But rather, finding a heel or heel option that works with your lifestyle.
My favorite comfortable heels are these by far! And they are worth the investment because you will have no qualms about wearing them regularly. Your feet will not even notice the change.
That being said, if the traditional high-heel doesn’t work for your style or lifestyle, here are some other options:
Also, keep in mind what type of heels you can walk in. We want these shoes to help us feel more confident, and not look like a deer trying to walk on ice. If you struggle to walk in heels, try a block heel, or a heeled boot for an easier alternative. Or shoot for heels in the 2” and below range.
We will get into what bottoms are best for looking taller and slimmer, but almost every body shape can benefit from adding a thin belt to highlight their waists.
Adding a visual cue to focus your outfit helps draw people’s attention to your waist which elongates your legs, gives your outfit definition and makes you appear slimmer by adding focus to this thinner part of your body.
Adding a visual cue to focus your outfit helps draw people’s attention to your waist which elongates your legs, gives your outfit definition and makes you appear slimmer by adding focus to this thinner part of your body.
For this styling tip to work best, opt for a skinny or thin belt, something under 1.25” in height. A wide belt can throw off your proportions or make your middle appear thicker than it naturally is.
Belts also assist in getting those pant gaps to disappear, and to literally cinch in your waist. And if you don’t want your belt to be a focal point, but you want the slimming effect, opt for a belt that matches the color of your pants for a more discrete iteration of this tip.
In the above image, you can see how much the thin black belt helps define the waist and give some definition to an outfit that has a lot of baggy pieces.
side by side comparison of style tip to look taller and slimmer. left side: all black outfit that makes you look long and slim. versus a multi-colored outfit that doesn't extend your proportions in the same way
Monochrome is a style secret that not enough people talk about. Tonal dressing, monochrome, or column color outfits are some of the easiest outfits to pull off.
Dressing to look tall and slim is about layering properly (avoiding those bulky layers that widen you) and about color. Using color to elongate your body shape and keep your outfit distraction-free is key.
Darker tones and black work very well to slim you out. They provide less opportunity for wrinkles or pulling to show, and they create a streamlined silhouette. Because your outfit is all (or mostly one color) there is nothing distracting the eye when the outfit is being taken in.
While I love an all-black ensemble, that is not your only option. Navy, burgundy and any darker hue would also work well. However, if you have areas in your body you want to be more discreet about ( think a belly you want to hide or thighs you want to slim out) avoid tans, whites, or high-saturation colors. These colors will tend to show off those areas more because the shadows easily created on lighter color backgrounds.
If you have your heart set on a lighter color monochrome outfit, make sure the pieces are less body-conscious and it should work successfully.