Oh, Those Oscars! Body Shape Dos and Don’ts

With celebrity measurements so easily accessible on the Internet, celebrity red carpet posing is a great way to see what does or does NOT work for a particular body shape. The Oscars were no exception. There were many beautiful and amazing dresses on display as well as some best left in the closet. Leaving that editorializing to one side, there were a few attendees that understood and dressed to their body shape and a few that did not.

 

Perhaps the biggest oops on display was Brandi Granville’s dress. Ignoring the question of whether or not it was going to stay on, it was a rectangle’s nightmare. While I could not find her measurements recorded online, she is clearly a rectangle. Her bust and hips are very close in size to each other and her waist is not much smaller. The low-cut cleavage brings the eyes down closer the the waist and creates a very horizontal line in the middle of her torso. Add that to the very straight line of the dress as it ‘skims’ her body and there is no curving lines to move the eyes around her body. Viewers are definitely fixed on her low bust line. Even the leg slit has a horizontal line at the top and the yardage of fabric on the floor again creates a low horizontal line. What curves she has are lost in the blocky midsection lines created by the dress.

 

 

On the other side of the spectrum are two women who know exactly the best way to show off their figures. First, and perhaps the best I saw that night was Halle Berry’s black sequined dress.  She has a very  hourglass like figure with bust and hips in close relationship to each other and a waist several inches smaller. Her dress did much to accent that fact with lines that curved into and out of her waist. A close, almost corset like waist showed off her figure beautifully. With hips an inch or so more than her bust, the diagonal striping on her shoulders does the finishing touch of evening up her proportions.

 

Another beautiful example of dressing to enhance her body shape was Naomi Watt and her dress for the Oscars. While just barely an hourglass, her figure verges greatly towards a rectangle. However, unlike Brandi, Naomi’s dress does a lot to accentuate her hourglass shape. The bustline of her dress creates a great deal of vertical lines with the cutout of one shoulder and the asymmetry that creates. The roundness of the top of the cut out side creates more movement. The skirt clings to the hips and curves in and then out again to create a beautiful vertical sweep to the dress. The skirt is streamline and adds to the vertical feel of the dress. The eye is kept moving around her dress in pleasing curving lines. This makes her figure look even more hourglass.

These three ladies are beautiful examples of how the way you dress and the choices you make affect the way you are seen and the appearance of your figure. Find pictures of celebs who look fantastic in their dresses and look up their measurements. Then study and learn how the dress adds to their appearance.

Above all, have fun with fashion.

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