Hip Hip Hooray!

One of the main take-away’s from, Couture Week, was the hourglass shape. Be it through corsetry or actual garment construction, the goal is to create the illusion of a tiny waist and accentuated hips. The trickle-down to ready-to-wear, actually works quite well for us curvy girls because we don’t have to do much to achieve this look and likely, you already own what you need to do so. My knit dress, Maje, is fitted through the elongated eyelet bodice that is attached to a full rib-knit skirt. The weight of the skirt is much heavier than the top portion of the dress and if you look closely, the ribbing has been placed, horizontally, which inevitably accentuates the hips to create the illusion of a small waist and bigger hip. I bought this dress many years, back and remember falling in love with the pale pink colour-way BUT as much as I loved the dress, I knew it was NOT the right silhouette for my body type. Let’s be honest…I’m short, 5’3”, extremely short waisted and pretty curvy so a fitted elongated waist AND a full skirt is TOTALLY WRONG! I tell my clients, if they make a conscious choice to, choose wrong, make the best wrong choice, possible.

In my case, it meant choosing the dress in black rather than pink because black is more forgiving. As you can see, there’s, too much body, for me and because I’m curvy, you can see that it extends past my natural hip, which is not how the dress should hang. If I chose it in pink, it would so be much more obvious then I’d be self-conscious and likely never wear the dress and feel horrible about buying it, etc. In my effort to keep the eye focused on the lower skirt portion, I want as few breaks in the sight line as possible. To achieve this, I need leg coverage and my tall lug boots, Gisele, do exactly that. They also mimic the shape of the dress to create a perfect balance in shape and weight distribution, overall. My satchel bag, Carla Mancini, is also in theory, a similar shape to my dress and boot with its skinny handles and bulky bottom. So, Hip Hip Hooray!

*style-tip: If we know and are honest about our body types, we make better choices even when we’re choosing, wrong.

 Disco-Ball Alternative

We all know that high shine is a big trend this season but for those of us who really don’t want to go, Full Metal Jacket, or wear overly embellished garments, accessories are the next best thing and it’s likely you already have what you need to make it work I’m using my crisp white poplin shirt-dress, Macys, as my build around piece because everything POPS off of white especially metallics and reflective items.

I’ve layered my shiny textured jacket, Zara, over it for that trending, menswear, vibe. The ocean blue colour, also trending, picks up the silver tones from all of my accessories. As for this long rhinestone necklace, vintage, it is really a belt from the late 70’s early 80’s that I thankfully kept as I did my Mothers liquid-metal handbag and big drop earrings. My rhinestone pumps, Steve Madden, and ankle bracelet, Melinda Maria Jewelry, complete my disco-ball alternative look so I’m shining from head-to-toe.

style-tip: the key to this look comes from a tight colour story and the repetition of rhinestones and silver toned accessories. Opting for a flat poplin shirtdress rather than satin, allows me to bring in a bit of a menswear feel while balancing out what could read as, shine-overkill.

*please treat your wardrobe well. many people worked very hard to get it to you.