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Dress: From Marshalls (similar style here) // Cardigan: Lucky Brand from Marshalls (similar style here) // Booties: Christian Siriano for Payless (super old- similar style here)
Happy Friday, beautiful friends!
Striped pieces have the reputation of being super versatile, allowing you to wear them in a simple way or dressed up with more of a chic element. However, I have found that they don't work for all of us as is and depending on the piece(s) and our body shapes, there are certain styling methods we should consider to create a more flattering effect.
You see, horizontal stripes, which are the most common, for a striped tee especially, widen the area where they're worn. If it's a t-shirt, then it would widen the entire upper body and if it's a skirt or dress, it would visually widen the hip area. This is all great, depending on the effect you want to achieve. When it comes to tops, I always suggest to my apple or inverted triangle shaped friends that they may want to go for a black base with white stripes, since these shapes tend to have wider upper bodies. The black base can help to prevent the upper body from appearing even wider. Why? As we know, black conceals or slims, whereas white highlights. So having a black base will minimize the creation of additional width.
When it comes to skirts or dresses, like the one I'm wearing, I suggest that my pear (like myself) and hourglass shaped friends, carefully consider the tops they choose to work with. The reason is that if a top that creates a slimming effect is worn with a horizontal striped bottom, it can make the top appear even more smaller in comparison to the hips. To prevent that from happening, I'd suggest wearing a pop of color, a bardot/boatneck top or in this case, a longer cardigan to help visually elongate the entire body, which helps to counteract the additional width the stripes create.
I hope you found this post helpful in styling your striped piece(s) or that it gave you some confidence in working with them, if you felt insecure about wearing them :) and I hope you all have a wonderful start to your weekend!
Xo,
