Categories: General fashion

Horizontal or vertical stripes. Which make you look taller and slimmer?

I had some lovely comments to my last post “What to wear to a summer barbecue” so thank you to all my lovely readers. One particular comment caught my eye as I had not really noted that I was wearing horizontal stripes on my bottom half. As I have a pear shape figure I guess I was breaking the rules.

Thank you Jan for bringing it to my attention. Comment below:-

The first word I thought of was *statuesque* … you manage to look tall and elegant in horizontal stripes. On your bottom half, yet! Sigh. Never happening for me … but nice to know that it can be done, and done beautifully.
Lovely, the whole thing!

This got me thinking so I decided to do some research and came up with the following:-

Visual illusion. Horizontal or vertical stripes? Which make you look taller and slimmer and which fatter and shorter? The common thinking is that vertical stripes give the illusion of height. This apparently is not how it really is. In 1867 women knew that horizontal stripes made them look taller, according to Hermann Von Helmholtz, a physicist. who first experimented with the ideas of visual perception of space.

Horizontal stripes by chicatanyage featuring a floppy hat

Horizontal stripes by chicatanyage featuring illamasqua nail polish

marksandspencer stripe wool skirt

Marksandspencer stripe skirt

My-Wardrobe stripe blue skirt

Do you favour stripes. If so do you prefer vertical or horizontal and how do you wear them?

Finally the winner of “She landed by Moonlight” by Carole Seymour-Jones is Crisp. Congratulations and apologies for the delay it seems to have taken Amazon a while to deliver a copy to me. Please contact me at Chicatanyage(at)btinternet.com with your address and I will send you a copy.

I really love to hear from you and appreciate the time you take to leave comments.

Fashion and Style, Beauty tips, Lifestyle

Chicatanyage

I write a fashion and beauty blog for women over 50 with the aim of inspiring mature women to continue to enjoy and have fun with their fashion choices. I have spent most of my working life in some way connected to fashion. I started my career in Fashion PR and then trained as an Image Consultant when my children were young. I subsequently worked in the corporate world running seminars, doing private coaching and speaking at conferences. I started my blog in 2009 as I wanted to share my years of experience working in the world of fashion. I truly believe we can continue to have confidence in the way we present ourselves. Our style may evolve with time and changing lifestyles, yet with a little knowledge and inspiration, we can all continue to have fun with fashion. As women of a certain age we are a growing demographic let us prove that we can also be a chic one.

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View Comments

Catherine Robinson says:

16th August 2013 at 10:44

Oh, Jo...I LOVE stripes...horizontal or vertical...I can't resist them. I still have a much loved pair of striped trousers that must be 15 years old :-) they're silk grey and white Emporio Armani...cost me a fortune but I still have them!
You look GORGEOUS in your horizontal striped skirt :-)
I agree with you vertical stripes definitely give the illusion of height.
Have a wonderful weekend.
xx
Ginger Savely says:

16th August 2013 at 15:08

I am a 63 year old American reader and want to say that this post is so timely for me! I just "discovered" horizontal stripes last week! My mother had always taught me to stay away from them because "they make you look shorter and fatter"! A sales lady in Banana Republic (I think you have those in England too, right?)urged me to try on a horizontally striped dress which I did quite skeptically. I am a large breasted woman and didn't want to end up looking like Dolly Parton. Surprise! Mother was wrong! I quickly snapped up about 6 horizontal striped tops which are now the mainstay of my wardrobe!!
Chicatanyage says:

16th August 2013 at 16:39

Ginger Savely. Good for you. I am the same age and realise that our mothers, bless them, were not always right.
Flattering50 says:

18th August 2013 at 15:00

I love wide horizontal stripe tops. A dark stripe at the waist is slimming on me. I haven't tried a striped bottom. If I did, it would have to be a skirt. I love your long horizontal striped skirt.