Sometimes you see a photo of a celebrity next to other people, and you marvel at how small of stature they are. On their own, they don't look that short! This is because a lot of celebrities (or their stylists) have mastered the art of "dressing tall" - wearing clothes that make them look taller.
Luckily, aside from wearing nine inch platforms, there are many ways of using your clothes to achieve a lengthening or slimming effect. Here are my three favourite ways to look taller using colour.
Tip #1 - Create a Column of Colour
The first way to make yourself look taller, is to create a "column" of colour by wearing the same (or very similar) colour from top to bottom.
That doesn't mean you have to wear only one colour all the time, though! You can create either an "inside column" - top and bottom the same, with a different colour jacket (outfit on the left), or an "outside column" - jacket and bottom the same, with a different colour top (outfit on the right).
You can see in the picture how much shorter the middle outfit looks, because there is no column of colour to visually lengthen it.
The trick is to make sure that you create a vertical line of colour running from your neck/shoulders to your hemline/feet. Also remember that "taller" equals "slimmer" in the eye of the beholder!
Tip #2 - Choose your shoes wisely
We can take the column principle a little further by including our shoes. Shoes that match your hemline will lengthen your legs, whereas contrasting coloured shoes will shorten them.
Handy hint: Shoes in the colour of your skin, or the colour of your hair will also have an overall lengthening effect.
Tip #3 - Wear your own colours - not someone else's
A wonderful thing happens when someone wears colours that suit their complexion and hair colour - they instantly look taller! That is because their face and hair become part of their "column of colour", and the effect is visually lengthening and slimming.
In the photo on the left, the beautiful and talented Emma Stone wears a dress in her warm, bright colour range, and doesn't she just look magnificent! Sadly, in the photo on the right, not only is she wearing cool colours (black and white are both super cool), but the level of contrast is completely wrong for her. The result is that it looks like someone copied and pasted her head on a different (shorter!) body. Even her slender neck looks like it's disappeared.
Make sure that you know which colours suit you: have your colours analysed by a professional image consultant. If you last had your colours done more than ten years ago, it may be time to have it reassessed, because our colouring tends to change over time.
If you live in or around Perth, you can have your Colour Analysis done with friends or family!
Next Colour Workshop 29th July 2023, or contact me for a Colour Party at your home.
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