As an adorable apple, your average to full bust, wide waist and slim legs look best in knee length dresses with straighter lines that elongate and skim over the curves of your upper body. For the most flattering effect, choose dress silhouettes that reinforce your hourglass shape, accentuate your shapely bust and highlight your lower legs.

• Empire lines with straight seams (not gathered) that emphasize the narrowest part of your torso. This will deflect the eye upward and away from your  natural waist.
• Sheath dresses with a bit of stretch for extra comfort. Keep the neckline low ( V or scooped) to lengthen the neck and look for sleeve details for variation.
• Shirtwaister dresses with pencil skirts, front ties and front-buttoning details that give you shape and structure.
• Printed wrap dresses that define your waist while the busyness of the print camouflages the tummy area.
• Draped dresses that deemphasize the midsection through design details like knots, pleats, ruffles and ruching.

Look for:

• Asymmetrical and handkerchief hemlines that deflect the eye away from the widest part of your body.
• Vertical seam details and diagonal lines that help elongate that unbroken line.

Avoid:

• Lengths that are mid-calf or longer. You’ll expose the best part of your body with a skirt that’s at the knee.
• Thin jersey knits that cling across the tummy area.

You won’t go wrong if you keep your dresses structured, stretchy, skimming and short. Sport them during the day and at night to bring out your most feminine side for Spring.

A printed wrap, a bias cut with vertical seaming (created through the ruffle detail) and diagonal lines, an empire cut with a straight seam and a draped dress with ruched waistband and front pleat detail (Nordstrom and Macy’s).

This entry was posted on Friday, May 4th, 2007 at 7:49 am and is filed under Dresses, Spring 2007, Body Type. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.