Most women can agree they would love to look taller and slimmer, whether an illusion or not. Clothing is a really great tool to utilize to play with silhouettes and illusions.
I am 5’2″ and I have always wanted to look taller and leaner. Here’s the 19 best ways to dress to instantly make you appear taller and more slender.
Table of Contents
Highlight Your Waistline
This tends to be a controversial trick among women because so many of us have spent so much of our lives hiding our belly, and feeling like we need to. The truth is, though, that when we bring more focus to the waistline (specifically the smallest part of it) it can be incredibly flattering.
Regardless of your personal body shape, if you can find a way to highlight your waistline it’s going to transform your shape making you look taller and slimmer. This really is all due to the fact that highlighting the smallest area of the waist, brings the attention there.
When more focus is at the smallest area of a body part, the body appears smaller. In addition to looking smaller, highlighting the waistline tends to make legs look longer than they are naturally.
Wear a Cropped Jacket
Cropped jackets work wonders for women who want to look taller and slimmer!
Whenever you wear something shorter on top, it is going to create the illusion of longer legs, and therefore instantly make you appear taller.
To achieve the maximum sliming effect, it’s best to pair it with a dark color bottom. Whether you wear a black pants, jeans or skirts, they can work with your cropped jacket to create a more slender silhouette overall.
Tuck in your Shirt
When you tuck in your shirt, it can immediately define your waist and therefore make you look more slender.
It is a a common misunderstanding that tucking in your shirt is going to “expose” your mid section, therefore many women are hesitant to ever tuck in the top.
There are various ways you can tuck in your shirt. If you are self-conscious about your midriffs, do a French tuck can best serve the purpose of tucking without creating more bulkiness around your stomach.
Dress Monochromatically
Monochromatic dressing isn’t just trendy, it’s also really flattering. In fact, dressing monochromatically is a trick many stylists use when dressing celebrities and clients.
If you’re not familiar with monochromatic dressing it’s really the concept of wearing one color throughout an outfit. The color can be any color whether all black, red, etc.
The reason it can help you to look taller and slimmer is because wearing just one color from head-to-toe creates a column like aesthetic to the body. This ‘column’ is one long, line down the body. Anytime an uninterrupted line is established on the body it adds length to that area of the body, in this case it’s the whole body.
Not only does that column create a long line, but a long line slims the body. Length = slimming.
Add a Belt
A great way to define your waist is to add a belt to your outfit.
I do have to stress that belts can be a double edged sword, i.e. they can work FOR you and they can also work against you.
If using a belt is new to you, start with a belt that is the same color, or similar color, as your outfit. This will make sure you are not drawing too much attention to your belly while still adding enough waist definition.
Wear High Waisted Bottoms
Mentioned quickly above, high waisted bottoms are a major win. For instance, high waisted jeans are one of the most slimming jeans. For most women high waisted bottoms sit around the slimmest area of their waist. In doing this, it brings all the focus to that part of the body.
Not just that, but high waisted bottoms also bring the leg up on the body – adding a few extra inches of ‘leg’ to your shape. Thanks to all of this high waisted bottoms help make even short legs look longer and slimmer.
Don’t be afraid to play around with high waisted bottoms, whether it’s a skirt, shorts, pants, etc. Anytime you can wear a higher rise it’s going to flatter your figure. If you want to look taller you’ll definitely want to stay away from low rise fits for this reason.
Add High Heels
This may be one of the more obvious tips but it works wonders. Because many of us have been living in casual clothing the past couple of years, it’s an easy one to forget about.
Anytime you want to look taller and slimmer in an instant, all you have to do is throw on a pair of high heels. It’s definitely one of the easiest ways to adjust your height.
Generally speaking, it’s best to avoid high heels (or shoes in general) that are bulky in their style. Adding bulk to your feet drags the attention down and often shortens/widens the appearance of the body. Instead, focus on wearing heels that are more minimal and sleek.
If you want to really make the most of high heels, favor options with a pointed toe. The elongation that comes from a pointed toe heel can add even more height (and slimming!) to the body. It’s all thanks to the vertical lines established within a pointed toe shoe.
Wear a Waist Cinching Dress
One of the easiest ways to look instantly slimmer is to go for a dress that cinches your waist.
Your dress does not need to be tight, but you do want it to define your waist so that you can draw attention to the smallest part of your torso.
Here is the critical part you want to pay attention to:
Do make sure the waistline of your dress sits higher than your natural waist.
By doing so, it is going to immediately elevate your waist and therefore elongate your legs.
There are many different styles of dresses that can achieve this result, one of the best (especially for curvy women) is a wrap dress since it comes with a belt which can highlight your figure and make you appear more feminine.
Wear Full Length Pants
If you want to look longer and leaner, wearing a longer pants is one of the most effective ways to achieve this goal.
When your pants are long, it naturally lengthens your leg, and therefore create the illusion of longer legs.
Do make sure you pair full length pants with heels, in order to achieve the maximum leg elongating result.
Wear Flare Jeans
Flare leg is one of the best jeans to make your legs look longer and leaner.
Because these are well fitted from your thighs to your knees and then they widen under your knees, they are a heaven sent for women who want to look taller and slimmer.
Wear Vertical Stripes
Horizontal stripes have always been known to widen the body. Reversing the direction of stripes, by opting for vertical stripes instead, can actually add length to the body. That’s why they’re such a great print to wear when you want to look taller and slimmer.
If traditional vertical stripes aren’t really your cup of tea, opting for any print that creates a similar vertical line down the body will help you to achieve the same result that still suits your preferences. Anytime you want to add length and slim the body, vertical lines are your best friend.
Because vertical lines bring the eye up and down the body, this is what gives the illusion of length and a slimmer look. That is why horizontal lines are best to avoid because they do the same thing but instead drawing the eye sideways on the body – widening it.
Go with Empire Waist
When you wear the right empire waist silhouette, whether it’s a top or dress or a jumpsuit, they can immediately make you look more slender and taller.
Do keep in mind empire waist can come in different cuts. Avoid those that give you the “pregnant” look, and go for those with a wider waistband.
You do want to make sure the waistband sits higher than your natural waist, which can camouflage your tummy and therefore is one of the best dresses to hide a belly.
Caution with Skinny Belt
I mentioned earlier that belt can be one of the most useful accessories to define your waist, if you know how to use them wisely. When it comes to skinny belt, however, it can get tricky.
Skinny belt is not flattering on most women. Because they are so tiny, they can easily look out of scale, especially on women with a curvy figure.
The worst is when the skinny belt has a high contrasting color with your outfit, because this is going to draw all the attention to your mid section, therefore it should be avoided by anyone with a midsection concern.
Wear V-necklines
Necklines can play quite a large role in how your shape looks in an outfit. Even though in the grand scheme of things it’s one of the smaller details of an outfit.
V-necklines are an option to favor to add height and slim the body, which is why it is one of the best necklines for plus size women or anyone with a curvier shape.
This style works similar to some of the other tips mentioned above in that a v-neck creates a vertical line to the top half of the body. Those lines lengthen and slim beautifully. Not to mention, it opens up the space around the neck and chest area that also helps to add length.
Avoid Baggy Clothing
For anyone who wants to look taller and leaner, baggy clothing is a no-no.
Very often we see women with curves tempted to wear loosely fitted clothing, because on the surface they look like they can hide your shape.
However, baggy clothing actually adds a lot of volume to your body and therefore they can totally make you look heavier and bigger than you actuall are.
Avoid Body Con Silhouette
Body con silhouette means wearing a tight top with a tight bottom. This is the least accommodating silhouette as it highlights every lump and bump in your body, which is typically the least flattering for most women.
In order to look taller and leaner, it’s critical to balance out the volume in your silhouette.
That means if your top is tight, wear a bottom that is not too clingy. Vice versa, if your bottom is tight, then go with a top that is more roomy.
Avoid Anything Too Tight
Anything too tight can only bring attention to the part of your body that you do not wish others to notice.
Whether you have a midriff, or wider hips or generous thighs, if you do not want to draw attention to the feature you are self conscious about, avoid wearing anything that fits too tight to that area of your concern.
Wear a Hat
Yes, hats can even add height to the body! As you’ve gathered at this point anytime you add height it aids in the slimming aspect of dressing. Hats, specially hats that add a bit of height to the top of the head, are a fun addition to play around with.
Not only are hats a fun accessory that add a statement to an outfit, they can also provide figure flattering benefits to your shape. They draw the eye up and when you opt for a style that has some additional height it draws the eye up a little higher.
Avoid Clingy Fabrics
For anyone who wants to look more slender, it’s best to avoid fabrics that clings tightly to your body.
It doesn’t matter if you are choosing a top or a bottom, if the fabrics are too thin and too stretchy, they are going to be cling to your body and therefore making you more self conscious of the features you do not wish others to focus on.
Wear Structured Clothing
The opposite of cling fabrics is something more structured. Your fabrics do not have to be stiff, but you do want it to have enough weight so that it skims your body instead of clinging to it.