Are you happy with your body shape?
Body image does dramatically affect our lives.
It can be a life long trial and source of deep unhappiness for some people. Many females have lost their body confidence and it’s not really surprising when we are continually bombarded with images of skeletal tall models showing off clothes that can’t possibly look bad on ‘human coat hangers’.
Do you feel pressure?
Women of all ages, feel the pressure of having to conform to unrealistic and unachievable body stereotypes that stare at us from magazines and billboards on TV and film; actually everywhere.
Young girls especially are being made to feel dissatisfied about how they look because all the models and celebrities are impossibly beautiful and thin.
The government are aware of this problem.
Lynne Featherstone the new equalities minister says that this constant bombardment of retouched images poses “a significant risk to the physical and mental health of young people” and can even lead to bulimia and anorexia.
It has to stop.
Britain has an incredibly narrow view of what is beautiful - promoted by our extremely biased press and fashion industry.
Are we bored and exhausted of trying to conform to be tall and thin?
European woman have a sexiness that comes from the confidence of not worrying about their flaws. We can do the same. We need to empower our younger generation that all body shapes can look and feel fabulous. If we can boost our body confidence and self esteem it helps us become more assertive and confident in whatever role we play in life.
Do you ever encounter these frustrations?
- The wardrobe is FULL but you ‘have nothing to wear’
- You buy something then have nothing to go with it
- You have clothes hanging up still with the label on
- You get frustrated and lose confidence
- You resign yourself to thinking that it’s YOUR body that is too big, too small, the ‘wrong’ shape etc
Would you like to learn HOW to love your body shape?
One of the easiest, most cost effective ways is by learning how to dress for YOUR body shape using style tricks to show off your best assets and cover up the parts you don’t like.
There are generally 4 technical reasons.
It’s to do with:
- the colour
- the style
- the scale
- the fabric
But remember It’s NOT you, it could be the clothes that aren’t right.
Here are some guidelines to get you started:
As a general rule we are aiming to ‘balance’ our shoulders with our hips. So if one is wider than the other we ‘balance‘ it up with the styles that we wear e.g. if you have shoulders that are narrower than your hips then you wear tops with cap sleeves, shoulder details or jackets with shoulder pads.
- Put pattern and detail where you have ‘space’ on your body. For example if you have a long neck wear scarves, or polo necks.
- For those with long legs wear skirts with pattern and details, or cargo trousers.
- Those with a shorter body should wear plainer colours and longer line tops to extend the top half.
- If you have a long body, wear layers, patterns and details on your top half.
- Do not wear any items ending on your widest part. Asymmetrical lines are great for distracting the eye.
You don’t need to spend a fortune to look and feel fabulous! You can attend a workshop in your area and follow the tips above.
About the author
Gay Richardson set up Style Me Confident five years ago. Gay has attended many courses including the London College of Fashion - Top to Toe Personal Styling and The Principles of Personal Styling, and Marks & Spencer - Our Service Style ‘Mary Gober’ Course. Gay is a Founder member of the Association of Stylists and Image Professionals and is passionate about helping people become more confident by teaching them what to wear, whatever their body shape in an honest, sensitive and fun way. Ladies that attended Gay’s workshops in 2010 said: “Just do it!” She runs body confidence workshops, which are held monthly in Worthing.
tel: 01903 538774
email: gay@stylemeconfident.co.uk
web: www.stylemeconfident.co.uk
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