12 Days of Christmas Tips Right from Your Closet to Look Slimmer

Seems 10% of my clients have lost 30 pounds during the WFH pandemic, and 90% have gained 15.  If you are in the latter majority, pick up a few tips here on how to smooth, camouflage, and pretend it didn’t happen until the flush of your new gym membership in January kicks in.

1. Wear a monochromatic (same color) outfit. Whether a suit or the same color hoodie and knit pants, the same color top and bottom allow the eye to travel up and down, significantly slimming you.  Similar colors prevent the eye from jolting to a stop, usually right in the problem area, where your light shirt tucks into your dark pants.  Don’t tuck in if possible.
2. Don’t wear clothing too small.  Avoid the sweaters and shirts in your closet that are clinging around the middle right now. If your suit jacket pulls into a big “X” in the front when buttoned, or your rear vents pop or gape, forgo the button.  If your shirts pull at the belly when you sit, layer them under a casual vest. Don’t wash your jeans unless absolutely necessary.  Take your dress pants to a tailor.  Most decent manufacturers will have some “let out” seam allowance that the tailor can give you so your seams are not straining and the pockets of your pants are not popping out.
3. Don’t wear clothing too big.  Don’t exaggerate your size with oversize clothing, especially with an off-the-rack garment that you bought to accommodate the belly, but is huge in the chest and shoulders.  If you’ve done this, the easiest way to make a too-big shirt have a better fit is to have a tailor slim the arms at the elbow and move the cuff barrel button over a touch, so it’s not falling over your wrist.
4. Wear darker colors.  Dark recedes, Light attracts. The eye will travel your outfit looking for a light color.
5. Provide the distraction of details on the top and the bottom.  Wear terrific shoes, fun socks, wearing a hat, rocking a scarf or a pocket square are all ways to waylay the eye and give it somewhere to rest, other than your tummy.
6. Minimize details in the middle.  Bold patterned shirts, big pockets, and colorful belts focus the eye where you least want it.  Ditto on outerwear pieces that have belts – opt for straight-lined outerwear, with no waist belts.
7. Vertical lines slim:  Stripes going up and down are helpful.  If you wear a tie, ensure it is tied so there is NO gap between the bottom of the tie and the waistband of your pants.  No square toe shoes (gasp!).
8. Pull clothes from your closet that are in sync with your own proportions.  A skinny tie, narrow lapels, skinny jeans flatter a slim man.  The rest need to wear clothing that is more in keeping with their body type.   Wear more substantial shoes.  Your wingtip brogues will balance a larger body proportion better than a wafer-thin Italian loafer.
9. Wear your pants an inch lower.  Go to the tailor and have them hemmed to the proper length so they don’t look baggy and sloppy.  They can always be rehemmed later.
10. Wear a compression undershirt.  No shame – these babies take that 15 pounds and suck it right up.
11. A V-Neck elongates.  A V-neck sweater or knit will be more slimming than a crew neck.
12. Wear a Vest.  Not necessarily a three-piece-suit vest, but a casual vest that will hide all kinds of sins under it.  Look at this client I dressed – from pleats and paunch to panache in one outfit change! 

Ann Lindsay is Style of Success and J.Hilburn Custom Menswear 

(PS. nothing looks slimmer than custom!)

I work to make you look and feel effortlessly confident. 

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