How To Wear Stripes To Flatter Your Figure

  Let’s debunk the myth that horizontal stripes make you look fat; vertical stripes make you look slimmer; and either stripe will make you look taller or shorter.  

Did you know?

Horizontal stripes can actually make you look slimmer and vertical stripes can make you look heavier! It all depends on your personal body-shape, proportions and scale, your natural colouring as the colour of the stripes can make a difference, and any special features you may want to enhance or camouflage according to the specific placement of the stripes.

Horizontal stripes:

Vertical stripes:

Diagonal Stripes:

Wide or Narrow Stripes?

The science and research:

According to the Helmholtz Illusion horizontal stripes had a more slimming effect than the vertical. Helmholtz was a German scientist who was concerned with visual perception. During his work he deduced that placing 2D images of equidistant horizontal and vertical stripes side by side that the horizontal stripes had a more slimming effect than the vertical as you can see in the image below:

According to Psychologist Peter Thompson and Kyriaki Mikellidou, from the University of York who made a 2D black and white illustration of two women each in a sleeveless slip dress with horizontal strips on one and vertical stripes on the other. The horizontal stripes making her look slimmer as the eye travels up the stripes like a ladder. The vertical stripes causing the eye to go from left to right and making the woman in the second illustration look wider.

More recently Val Watham, came to the conclusion that vertical stripes made you look slimmer than horizontal stripes, as a participant in Radio 4’s ” So You Want to Be a Scientist? ” challenged Peter Thompson’s (previously her mentor) conclusion. Based on the fact that this was a 2D drawing not a 3D garment on an actual person. So she made two garments of the exact same fabric and width of stripe one with horizontal and the other with vertical stripes. On the results of 500 people. Ms Waltham won the BBC’s Amateur Scientist of the Year Award in 2012 based on the results of her research

So if the scientists can’t agree what hope is there for the rest of us and how on earth do you decide whether you should wear horizontal or vertical stripes to look your best, tall, slim and wonderful? The answer is not that simple. There are other variables to consider such as your own height and body shape; the type of fabric used and the actual placement of the stripes which could vary in width and where they appear on the body. Taking these factors into account you will see with the images bellows that both horizontal and vertical stripes can be slimming or fattening! 

What you really need to know:

About horizontal and vertical stripes is how they work for you, with your body shape, height, proportion, scale, and soma type. 

Next time you reach for a striped outfit take these points into consideration:

• Width of the stripe
• Placement of the stripe as it appears on your body
• Colour and contrast of the stripe 
• Fabric texture and fluidity
• Your own body shape, scale and proportion and 
• How you like to express your personal style

There is such an enormous variety of striped garments available you will be sure to find the best stripes to flatter you and resonate with your own personal style.