by Patricia Bunch

Created on: May 27, 2009

The better one looks, the better one feels, generally speaking. When one is wearing a garment which fits and feels great, unless some pathology is going on, the person donning that garment has spring in her step and a smile on her face. There are a few rules of fashion one can learn about the human body so when one is selecting an outfit, choosing one which flattered the figure and makes the wearer look great, becomes easier and more fun.

Not everyone has an hourglass figure and long legs and shapely long arms. A person such as this is the exception rather than the norm. In America, sadly, our population is more on the heavy side and of all heights. Even the heavy, full figured lady can look beautiful everyday in a dress selected with her figure type in mind. It may be she may have to do some minor alterations to the dress to make the dress look good on her, but it can be done.

Some have the idea if the hip area is big, covering it with a long jacket will make it disappear or look smaller. That isn't always true. More fabric layered on to fabric makes for more bulk which adds more inches to inches. If one chooses a dress with a jacket and large hips are a problem area, have a jacket slightly below the waistline and not too tight, nor too baggy. Wear clothes which fit. Choose the dress tail to be straight down from the hip-line and bring the hemline down past the knee. The eye will travel from the tail of the jacket to the hemline, giving the illusion of a long leg, taking the attention away from the hips and more to the length of the leg area. Make sure the sleeve length of the jacket doesn't extend beyond the length of the jacket. The sleeve length of the jacket will likely be three quarter-length.

If one can't find a dress and jacket with these details, the alterations are simple to make a long jacket shorter and sleeves shorter. If one can't sew themselves, it would be worth a few more dollars to have a seamstress fix the outfit for you to make it custom fit.

Ladies with large hip areas can wear flare dress tails if the fabric is the correct kind. It must be a very soft rayon, or other fabric which will lay close to the body. A denim fabric would stand out from the body and increase the look of the size of the wearer, so pass up a garment with heavy fabric with a flared tail if you are wanting to draw attention away large hips and legs. If the top of the dress is lovely and is just what one must have, again, making a straight skirt from

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