How to Wear Stripes
With spring right around the corner, I wanted to talk about one of the top pattern trends this season. You guessed it, stripes, diagonal, horizontal, and vertical stripes. You are going to see them all. Stripes are one of the trickiest patterns to wear, am I right? Let’s talk about the best ones for you to be wearing.
Diagonal stripes are great for elongating the appearance of the body. Your eye will naturally follow the diagonal lines down creating the impression of movement. Vertical Stripes are also great for lengthening the body, once again because it draws your eye down. Unlike diagonal and vertical stripes, horizontal stripes draw the eye outward, stretching the appearance of your body width wise instead of length.
This is what makes stripes so tricky because they draw the eye and can intensify the areas of our body that may not be our favorite. So does this mean you can’t be wearing one of 2018’s Spring trends? No, it means that you need to learn which type of stripes work the best for your body. As a style consultant, here are some tips that I find helpful when shopping for stripes for different clients.
Color is a factor if a stripe is a thumbs up or thumbs down. For example, let’s talk about a black and white stripe, like the jacket I am wearing. The higher the contrast in the colors the more intense the effect of the stripes will be. What is so great about my jacket is that the white stripe is thinner than the black. This allows there to be more negative space, and your eye is drawn down by the white.
Size of the stripe matters. The thicker the stripe, the wider the area is going to appear. If you have a sweater that is wide horizontal stripes, this area is naturally going to seem fuller and shorter to the eye. So be careful when wearing horizontal lines especially on the lower half of your body.
Placement is key. You want to avoid placing horizontal stripes on the voluminous parts of your body because it is going to expand this particular area. The same goes for putting the lighter stripe color on the broadest section of your body. If you are someone who is wanting to expand a specific area, then place a light horizontal stripe on that part of your body. If you are someone who is wanting to minimize the appearance of an area I recommend vertical stripes.
I hope these few tips and tricks can help you when shopping for new items that allow you to rock the spring stripe trend in a way that complements your body type and the section you want to highlight.
XO
