Have a belly? Here’s 20 smart ways to hide it

If you have a belly like me, dressing can be a challenge sometimes, as your tummy might often make you feel self-conscious. (I also have a clothing line for petite women, so I hear feedback from many of my customers who have similar concerns). After many years of trial and error, here are the 20 best clothing hacks I have tried and they can instantly hide your belly!

Wear a Peplum Top

The first tip I want to give you is to embrace the peplum design because it works wonders to camouflage your belly!

In this outfit below, I am wearing two tops with the same exact color, and paired with the same pants.

The only difference is the one on the left has a regular hem, while the one on the right has a peplum hem.

Because the peplum flares out, no one will be able to see your stomach since they are now covered by the ruffles.

But, here is the secret sauce you may not know: not all peplum is created equal.

You need to make sure the ruffles are long enough to cover the biggest part of your tummy. Otherwise, if the peplum is too short, they may actually be drawing more attention to your stomach instead of hiding it.

Create 3 Columns of Colors

This is a genius stylist hack for you to hide that tummy effortlessly and I’ll demonstrate with my example.

The first step is to make sure your underlayer forms one column of color, i.e. you should pair a darker color top with a darker color jeans or pants (or even skirts).

Black is known for slimming effect. but your underlayer does not have to be black. It can be any darker color you like such as navy, grey, brown etc.

The next step is where the magic happens- top it over with a lighter color outer layer, it can be a jacket, a cardigan, or a coat. In this case, I’m wearing a trench coat, but of course, you can choose your own favorite outer layer,

It is critical to wear it open front so that the lighter jacket and your dark under layer form 3 columns of colors in the front to divide up your “tummy”. This is how you can instantly disguise your belly!

High waisted everything

High waist works magic when it comes to hiding belly fat! Whether it is high waist jeans, pants or skirts, if you have a heavier midsection, they will smooth out for you very nicely.

Compare these two outfits I’m wearing, where the top and pants are both similar.

The only difference is the pants on the right is high waisted, whereas those on the left are mid waist.

Do you see how big a difference it makes? The high waist immediately gives me the hourglass shape, while the mid waist doesn’t.

Since I’m an apple shape, I have all things high waisted in my closet when it comes to the bottoms! They are my go-to and I live in them year round. When I put on the high waist jeans or pants, I can instantly feel the waist area get smoothed out, which will make me feel much more comfortable and less conscious about the mid section.

If you are petite, a huge bonus of wearing high waist style is that they also improve your proportion and make your legs look longer!

Ruched design

Ruching is the most genius design in fashion in my opinion. They are must-haves for women looking for clothes to hide their belly.

This is especially true when you wear any dress that fits snug (like the one below). If you are like me, a bit self-conscious about your tummy, you probably have been staying away from tighter dresses like this. However, you don’t need to anymore, if you pick one that has the ruching!

Ruching stiches leave extra fabrics on the dress, and because they look like wrinkles (don’t worry, they will smooth out on your body), they confuse the eye so that the eye can’t tell if the bulkness is because of your stomach or because of the fabrics.

Isn’t this genius?

Now, here’s my tip you need to know:

You do want to make sure the ruching is around your stomach, not elsewhere!

I personally own many dresses like these with ruching on the waist, because they are incredibly flattering for women with heavier midsections.

Not only dresses, but some tops also have ruching, which is also an excellent choice for women looking to hide the muffin top.

Wear asymmetrical hem

Wearing an asymmetrical design is one of my secrets to looking more slender effortlessly!

Compare the two tops of similar length and color. The one on the left has a flat hem like most of the tops in your closet, while the one on the right has a scissor-like hem.

The one on the right immediately makes my belly less noticeable, because the asymmetry breaks the horizontal line that goes across the tummy and therefore draws attention elsewhere.

If you haven’t paid attention to the hemline of your top, I hope I get your attention now.

It is not about wearing a long top to cover up your belly, it is about HOW you are covering up your belly.

When you wear smart design like this, it just makes getting ready everyday so much easier.

Wear empire waist

I want to recommend empire waist to women with a tummy, but, I suggest using this one with caution. 

Normally, stylists suggest you wear this to hide your belly.  It’s not that it doesn’t do the job, but it oftentimes gives you that pregnant look if you know what I mean. 

Not all empire waist dresses or tops are designed equally.  There are some that are not so exaggerated as to remind someone of a maternal dress.

Try on as many as possible to find the design with a modest design that hides your belly strategically without giving that pregnant look.

Wear contrasting layer

How you wear your layers play a big role in terms of hiding your stomach )or make them more noticeable.

In order to get the best slimming effect, you should layer with a contrast, like I did on the right.

Either wear a darker under layer and brighter outer layer, or vice versa.  The contrast created by your underlayer and outerlayer will trick the eye into believing your midsection is smaller than it actually is.

On the other hand, the layering on the left will make your muffin top more obvious, because there is no

Wear A Line Dress

A line silhouette is one of the most flattering dresses if you have a tummy, and that is why almost all my dresses are A-line.

The main reason you should go with the A line is that they are fitted at the smallest part of your torso, i.e. your natural waist, and they flare out at your waist. This contrast in volume creates the illusion of a more slender waist, which is why they are my go-to no matter what season of the year.

Avoid Cropped Top

Even though crop tops are very on trend, they are on top of our avoid list here, for obvious reasons (as you can tell from my outfit above)!

Since they cannot fully cover your tummy, they are going to show all your midriff bulge.

What makes it worse is that they are going to draw even more attention to your belly, because that is what they are designed to do. I presume no woman with a stomach would want anyone to focus on this part of our body, so, it’s best just to skip this crop top trend!

Avoid low rise

Low rise has made a big comeback in the last couple of seasons, as part of the big Y2K trend in fashion. Even though they can look modern and suit certain body types, for anyone who is trying to disguise a tummy, they are a big no-no.

The obvious reason is that they can expose your tummy!

I learned this the hard way, because I purchased low rise designer jeans when they were highly on trend 15 years ago.

What I noticed is they not only make your stomach look more obvious (in my case, they can barely cover my tummy fully), but also they are quite uncomfortable, especially when I sit down.

This was an expensive mistake I made, because now I have to donate all my low rise jeans, but it’s a mistake I will never make again, now that I understand it will never work on my body shape!

Avoid Body Con Silhouette

If you have a belly, you should avoid a body con silhouette from top to bottom. In other words, if your top is tight, avoid wearing it with a tight bottom.

If you wear a tight top with a skinny bottom, your tummy will look much more obvious.

Instead, if your top is tight, wear a looser fit skirt or pants to camouflage your belly, and vice versa.

Avoid skinny belt

Women with a tummy typically don’t have much waist definition, thus it is natural for us to want to make our waist appear smaller.

Of all the belts I’ve tried, I have to say skinny belt is the hardest one.

Even though they seem to be easier because they are slim, they are indeed very tricky, especially on women who already have a tummy.

The reason is the small belt can create a contrast with your stomach, which in turn makes your midriff even more obvious!

Avoid contrasting belt

Skinny belt isn’t the only thing tricky when it comes to waist definition. If you already have a heavier midsection, you want to stay away from any belt that creates a sharp contrast with your outfit.

As you can see, when I added a belt to this outfit, it become the focus of my dress and the eye is inevitably drawn to my stomach, which is exactly the opposite of what I want.

Besides, adding the belt also divides my body right in the middle, which is quite unflattering as I am a short girl to begin with. When I take off the belt and wear the dress as is, the silhouette is more flowy and my midriff looks much less noticeable.

Avoid paper bag

Even though paper bag falls into the high waist category, they are not in your best interest if you carry extra weight in your tummy.

I learned it the hard way!

Since I love the high rise design, I used to own quite a few paper bag bottoms, from jeans to shorts and skirts.

As cute as they are, what I notice is they draw all the attention to my belly, so they actually make me look heavier.

Besides, almost all the paper bag bottoms come with a belt, which means they have additional fabrics in the tummy area and therefore add bulk to your midsection.

Avoid anything too tight

This may sound too obvious but not everyone knows it (I didn’t, for years!). 

Many apple shaped women like myself have skinny arms and legs but heavier mid section.  Since I am an overall skinny person, bodycon dresses were my favorite for years,  without realizing that they are too tight for the  belly area, let alone to hide anything! 

Whenever something is very tight on you, it highlights everything, including the muffin top.

Avoid oversized clothing

So, this is the opposite of wearing something too tight- this to wear something too loose. 

Even if you want to hide the belly, you still need clothing with a shape and structure.  If you wear something that is too big, first they make you look like you are swimming in it and second it could leave people wondering if you are trying to hide something.

Especially if you are petite, you should never wear anything too oversized, because they could totally swallow your short frame.

Avoid sheer fabrics

Sheer fabrics adds the illuminating effect to your outfit.  They are good for certain occasions like parties but that’s pretty much it. 

If you are looking for an outfit to hide your belly, in general, you should go with something that shrinks your midsection and avoid sheer fabrics which add more volume to you overall.

Avoid button-front jeans

Again, another very trendy item!

Personally, I think the button fly jeans are the cutest design ever and I adore them.  The issue here is the buttons are designed to draw attention to your belly. So, if you do not what everyone to notice your love handles, then is style is probably not a good idea.

Avoid jersey knits

Fabrics is the key factor of how any clothes looks on you.  Thin fabrics tend to stretch out more than the thicker ones and they look cheap. 

Half tuck your shirt

When you are tucking, your mid section probably will become the first thing that people notice on you, especially when you are wearing a top and bottom with contrasting colors.  So, tucking is not recommended for women concerned about hiding the muffin top.