Several readers let me know about this truly ridiculous article from brightside.me called “Seven Mistakes We Make When Choosing Clothes that stop us looking our best ” Their advice is indented, followed by my responses. To read the article in full, you can click the link above.
Clothes that have a large checkered pattern can completely kill your figure. They look stylish, but they give the impression that you’re several inches wider at the hips. Instead, go for designs with neutral prints or just plain colors. If you really love checkered designs and can’t imagine your wardrobe without them, select items with small rather than large squares.
Looking several inches wider at the hips will “kill your figure?” Spare me. Let’s try this again. If you really love checkered designs and can’t imagine your wardrobe without them, then wear them happily and fuck whoever wrote this.
Horizontal prints give the impression of a much larger figure than you actually have. But if you love striped clothing, don’t despair. All you need to do is change their direction: vertical stripes achieve the opposite, making you look taller and slimmer. Alternatively, you can always opt for a classic combination of different colored items.
If you love striped clothing don’t despair, because you can wear it whenever the hell you want. You are under no obligation to buy into a stereotype of beauty that suggests that your clothes should be used to create an optical illusion magic trick. You look just as fabulous with a “much larger figure” so rock those stripes.
Endless ruffles, folds, and frills add at least a couple of sizes to your appearance. Try to choose clothing with the minimal amount of decorations, such as a zip-up skirt which will lengthen your figure or vertically striped clothing as described above.
We are only three tips in and already I’m sick to death of this tired fat-shaming bullshit advice.
Large prints make you look heavier and wider, whilst sandals with long laces going up your legs make you appear shorter. On the other hand, a sharp neckline and a slit in your skirt can make you look taller. Take care to select things made with just one color, and choose shoes that are close to your skin tone. This will also help you look taller and slimmer.
Say it with me – There’s nothing wrong with being short and fat! (Or tall and fat, or short and thin, or average height and kind of medium size, or whatever.) There’s nothing wrong with being tall and thin, but it’s not any better than any other height weight combination and there is something wrong with the idea that we should all try to look as tall and thin as possible.
A boat neckline on a dress can give the impression that you’re a lot heavier than you really are, whereas a V-shaped neckline with cleavage can make you look truly elegant.
This just in – being heavy is not the opposite of looking truly elegant. GTFO with this nonsense.
The only thing worse than horizontal stripes on clothing is wide and bright horizontal stripes.
Beg to differ. I think that there are far worse things on clothing than wide and bright horizontal stripes – like spilled spaghetti sauce right before a date, baby spit up when you are running out to an important meeting, or a swarm of angry wasps at any time. A little perspective, please.
Bright colors make you look larger to a much greater extent than more subtle tones do.
At this point I’d like to suggest an alternate title for this piece “Seven Ways That Women Can Dress To Look As Small As They Can And, If Possible, Disappear Completely.”
This is just ridiculous. I’m a proud member of the Fuck Flattering Club, but others don’t have to be. People of all sizes are allowed to dress however they want for whatever reasons they want (and should have the same options for design, quality, and pricepoint to do so) but can we please stop suggesting that smaller and taller are better than bigger and shorter? Can we stop tolerating articles like this one – that do nothing but promote fat shaming under the guise of fashion advice? Can we celebrate our right to choose clothes based on our own criteria, including not giving a flying frick whether they make us look bigger, smaller, shorter, or taller? Instead of trying to make all bodies look tall and thin, let’s celebrate the diversity of body sizes and all the ways we choose to dress them.
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Because our society is so incredibly thin-obsessed and fatphobic, sometimes people get confused and think that a fat body is a walking invitation for their judgments and comments. If you’ve been pointed to this blog post, you may be one of those people. Don’t worry, I’m here to help.
Dances With Fat 