Showing a Little Leg

My husband took me out on a wonderful date Saturday night.  As we stood outside the restaurant waiting for the valet service to bring our car, I watched a group of teenagers, obviously enroute to a Christmas dance.  Each of the 6 girls was wearing a very short baby doll length dress.  My initial observation was that the poor things were freezing with their very noticably bear legs, all in the name of fashion.  I could not help but think they were doing themselves a dis-service, and not just because they were freezing…

The extra short dresses were not flattering on most of their figures.  The short hem lines were drawing a visual line right across the widest part of their legs.  This only gave the illusion that their legs were heavier.  Check out this dress from Bebe.  Now we all know this model has got to be a stick under that dress, but it is adding weight to the lower half of her body where she does not even have it.  If this dress can do that to a model, just think what it would do to those of us who are not!  Not to mention, it would be nearly impossible to sit down in this dress with out giving a show.

If you want to create the illusion of a nice long lean leg, choose a hem line below the heaviest part of your leg.  Two inches above your knee is often a nice length.   This Sean John dress from Macys has a  little bit longer hem line and makes for a much slimmer look.

If you have any extra buldges you want to hide, you can try something like this Nicolle Miller dress from Macys as well.  It has a shape similar to the Bebe dress, does not hug any difficult areas, and creates a leaner look because of its longer length.

The second observation I made about the girls was the way they were walking in their heals.   It was sort of a stiff legged waddle.  They either had no idea how to walk in 3" heals or were in so much pain they were limping.  No matter what the reason, their sacrifice for fashion made for a painful to watch show and was completely unflattering. 

A nice strappy heal can make for a very sexy long looking leg, if you can walk properly in them.  Please ladies, no matter how georgous the shoes are, if you can’t walk in them don’t buy them.  If it is simply a matter of not knowing how to walk in heals, give yourself some time to practice at home.  It will be worth your patience.  But if the shoe is downright painful, forget about it!

And always remember, the ultimate idea behind your wardrobe is to make it work for you.  Don’t be a slave to fashion!