If you want to achieve a chic outcome, if you want to look elegant and polished through your whole day, the choice of outerwear should never be underestimated.
As I once read on Instyle.com in “The 50 Best Fashion Tips of All Time”, a must for an impeccable and interesting look is the following: “Never buy a boring coat”. As Holmes and Yang co-designer Jeanne Yang cleverly pointed out, “Outerwear should never be an afterthought. So many people only see you in your coat—if you’re not wearing something great underneath your trench, they’ll never even know!”
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A wise choice of your coat can also be very helpful if you want to flatter your silhouette while looking visually thinner. An unsuitable overcoat will add volume (and bulges) to your figure, whereas if you pick out the style more appropriate for your figure, this will have a very flattering outcome.
The key to a successful outcome lies in a proper balance of styles and colors.
In general, you can achieve an impeccable look by picking out clean, timeless styles carefully sewn in quality fabrics.
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And if you want to be in the spotlight, you can have fun with unusual hues. Interestingly enough, contrarily to what happens with other garments like sweaters and shirts, a bright-colored overcoat in a clean, timeless style is a foolproof way to achieve an interesting look while keeping on the safe side.
Now as per the style itself, here are some useful tips:
- Similarly to what mentioned in a previous post about cardigans, when choosing your perfect outerwear, it’s essential paying careful attention to its length. This season, long coats happen to be in fashion, but this style is indeed quite tricky if you’re not a six-feet-tall and 100-pounds girl – as an excessive length can weight your figure down, making your whole body appear larger and shorter (even if you don’t have any extra pound).
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- The ideal length for most figures usually lies between just above the buttocks and mid-thigh. The just-above-the-buttocks option is very flattering for those who would like to look taller, as it completely camouflages the real length of your legs, visually extending your lower half (this is particularly true when the outwear has a belt, as in the picture below).
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- Also, it’s essential to give preference to slim, straight styles, avoid enlarging details like pockets, decorations, ruffles, and so on.
As per the choice of colors, always pair a bright-colored coat with a neutral-colored scarf in your signature color, so as to play down any possible excessiveness in the hue (and take advantage of gloves to achieve a visually taller figure).
You can achieve a super chic and trendy outcome pairing bold-colored outerwear with grey and other neutral tonalities, but avoid pairing it with black, as this frequently look cheap.
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If you want to add vivacity to an all-black outfit, give preference to hues that are neutral while remaining intense, as it’s the case of the overcoat below (read here to make an impeccable choice with neutral colors).
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Another lovely combination is pairing bright-colored overcoats with a black-and-white outfit (as in the picture above), as the presence of two opposed yet neutral colors (black & white) has a balancing effect on the whole look.
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And when wearing bold-colored outerwear, avoid pairing it with shoes or bags in the same identical hue. A neutral variation will be more versatile. Plus, it will look more polished, adding class to your whole outfit.
Printed coats are another interesting option. Be sure that the print is good-taste, though. And when in doubt, give preference to timeless patterns (as the ageless black-and-white in the picture below).
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In the next post, we will see why a trench is a timeless staple and at the same time an easy tool to achieve a visually thinner figure.
