Dress Styles for Your Body Shape

Dress Styles for Your Body Shape

Baby Doll to Smock to Wrap Dress, Choose the Right Dress For You!
© Gill Hart

Do you know your trapeze dress from your baby doll? Your mini from your maxi? With so many dress styles to choose from this season, find one that flatters your body type!

With such a wide choice of dress styles in women's fashion it is important to know which is likely to be the most suitable for your shape.
Take advantage of this year's fashion trends to get to know your shift dress from your sheath or your empire-line from your baby doll!

Baby Doll

A baby doll is a shorter version of an empire line, and is in a similar style to a short nightgown or negligee. It is often trimmed with lace, bows, ruffles and ribbons, according to Iamfashion.com’s “Baby Doll or Empire Waist?”
This dress typically has a sweetheart or straight neckline. A scoop neck will counterbalance sleeves and is flattering for bigger-busted women. Due to the short-length, skyscraper legs are a prerequisite to carry off this style well. For those lacking in this department then it is possible to lengthen the leg with high heels and platform shoes.

Empire Line

A very flattering dress for almost any figure as the waistline is raised above the natural waist, which also may fall right below the bust. Good for shorter, petite figures and those with big tums as the empire dress creates the illusion of length and skims the body, camouflaging wide hips or a thick waist.
The baby doll and the empire-line dress are not mutually exclusive, but the empire had a more feminine/mature bust and can also be full-length.The high waist is usually complemented with a deep V-neckline, rather than the more babyish round-neck.

Flapper

Spring and Summer fashion trends of 2008 sees a continued revival of this Great Gatsby classic. Beads, fringes and ruffles give a new twist to the vintage dresses of the 1920s. Figure-friendly for most, as they fall straight, skimming the body. Flapper dresses are sleeveless by tradition, often with drop-waists. Teem it with a flapper headband, red-hot this season.
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