The Occasional Woman — Fashion Mistakes
Danger! Belt not working!
Dearest Readers, Well hi there again! I hope you are all up to your neatly-shaped eyebrows in Halloween festiveness.
I was casting about the dense acres of my mind, pondering in what way I might help you-all strike a balance between how you can look your BEST, and how to avoid a few style-killers I think can be spotted and avoided.
Accent belt
The First — Rampant Belt Abuse. A lot of style mavens will attempt to convince you of a Big Lie. “A belt will always make you look slimmer, darling.” This is patently untrue. I hate to see this: A lady puts on a dress, decides it makes her look like she’s hiding in a feed sack. So, she listens to those TV folks, and grabs a belt, yanks it around her middle, and thinks she now looks like Kate Moss. But the trouble is this — in doing so, she has actually AMPLIFIED her mid-section, cut her long, lean line right in half, and broken up her look. Or worse — she puts the belt right under her boobs-this eliminates the waist completely, and makes her look like she’s smuggling helium balloons in her dress.
Hooves
A smaller, accenty belt will be less distracting, more flattering and won’t scream “Hey! My waist is sooo huge I need this big ole honkin’ belt to nip me in!” Instead, either wear a better controlling undergarment, larger jewelry or have the dress tailored so it actually FITS!
The second pet peeve — the new “booties.” They look their cutest when they are still in the box, or on a shelf at Nordstrom’s. On your legs — they look more like a hoof. They are often clunky, and I have a niggling feeling that they are yet another ugly fashion hoax! Ladies, do you want your footwear to say “va vavoom,” or “I pull the Budweiser truck”? Hint — go for the Vooms!
The last unflattering thing I wish to mention is the truly abhorrent Cropped Pants, and Pedal Pushers/Capris. The gawd-awful Cropped Pant just hollers “Hey! I’m waitin’ on a FLOOD!” It looks like your pants are too short, and if you also have on “booties,” that gives you that sassy-troll look. These three types of pants all shorten your line, make you look goofy and unaware of your appearance. I’d rather see women in Daisy Dukes than cropped pants — and that’s saying something!
So — wear fun stuff, but let’s avoid the Clydesdale look, the “belt’s cut mah chub in the middle” faux pas, and the “my pants is too dang short” appearance. You’ll be glad you did!
Lorraine Anderson is the proprietor of The Occasional Woman, custom made garments for trans women.
Category: Style, Transgender Fashion
About the Author (Author Profile)
I am a native Californian who has been based in the Philadelphia area since 1984. My first CD fashion creation was a gold lamé dress for the now esteemed editor of this publication. Since then I have made tons of fabulous frocks and other fashion apparel for the crossdressing and transgender community. Contact me for custom clothing or alterations via email: [email protected] Visit my Facebook page, @alterationsbylorraineSubscribe
If you enjoyed this article, subscribe to receive more just like it.
