Hello my loves!
For the next few days, I will be posting on some of the most popular spring trends and explain if it's suitable for your body shape and frame. I mean, let's face it, not every trend is going to compliment all of our shapes and overall proportions equally, so it's best to know ahead of time before spending the money and becoming disappointed, right?!
The topic of today's discussion is the cropped structured jacket. Now, the motto jacket (cropped leather jacket) has been making an appearance every season, which tends to work for all body shapes, since there are many shapes and structures within the piece that can compliment our shapes. In this case, however, not all shapes are suitable. Why? This jacketed is very structured, meaning it has a very boxy appearance and shapes that have a natural square or rectangular upper body will not benefit in any way from this trend, such as the rectangular shape. This shape lacks a defined waistline and while this sort of jacket is cropped, creating attention to be placed at the waistline, it doesn't feature any curvatures to create the illusion of a defined waistline. We don't just want attention to be merely placed at the waistline without any enhancement for this particular shape, which is why this wouldn't work.
Another shape that wouldn't necessarily benefit from this trend is the apple shape. This shape has a naturally wide trunk or upper body (wide shoulders, wide back, and a larger midsection). Boxy jackets tend to add a bit of width and when you're upper body naturally has this shape it'll only enhance this feature, which will cause the upper body to appear disproportionately larger than the lower, which we don't want in this case. Another thing to consider is that even though this jacket is cropped, it stops right at the natural waistline, which will create an emphasis to a larger midsection. This is why I'm always stressing the importance of creating an empire waistline effect for this shape, which visually creates a waistline that is a bit higher, causing the midsection to appear visually slimmer. So if you're a rectangular OR apple shape, I say pass on this trend.
The two shapes that can embrace this trend are the pear and hourglass shapes. The pear shape has a wider lower body than upper, so our goal is to add some width and dimension to the upper, to visually balance things out. Even though this jacket adds some width, the contrast in the width of the jacket being a bit wider than your hips will still create the appearance of a defined waistline, so don't be concerned of it being lost in the jacket. When pairing them, I'd suggest wider jeans to polish off the look, creating a nice chic and figure flattering ensemble. The same is true for the hourglass shape. Since this shape has a defined waistline, when wearing a jacket like this, it won't visually alter it. I would also suggest pairing it with wider bottoms, such as a bootcut leg or slightly flared leg; no bell bottoms for either shapes when working with this jacket, the body will appear as though it's being swallowed by fabric, so go for a slight to medium flare.
When it comes to one's body frame, I'd say avoid this jacket if you're short waisted with longer legs. The reason is that when you're working with cropped tops or jackets, it visually lengthens your lower body and if your natural waistline is already much higher, you'd be extending it up even further, making your legs appear that much more longer and your torso much shorter.
I hope you liked this post and found it helpful! Be sure to check back tomorrow to read about another popular spring trend and learn if it will work for YOU!
XO
