How to Style White Clothing to Appear Tall and Slim

Avoid intense prints

A shirt with a busy pattern will make your top half look bigger. Here, Giedre shows how switching the printed jacket for a more muted one helps to slim down her shape. 

Add depth

Adding a belted jacket, skirt, and shoes, all in various shades of white and nude, adds depth and shape to this outfit. 

Create vertical lines

For this look, Giedre switched out her chunky sweater for an open blazer, and added a shoulder bag to create vertical lines, which help elongate the body. She also added a belt to accentuate her waist.  

Flowy silhouette

The wide hem of this skirt gives the illusion of a slimmer waist in this flowy white outfit. Adding the scarf creates vertical lines that make the wearer look taller and slimmer. 

Don’t accentuate your widest area

The black blazer ends at the hips, which is the widest part of the body and accentuates it. Here, Giedre switched the black blazer for a longer jacket, and added a belt, creating a beautiful and slenderizing all-white outfit. 

Diagonal/vertical prints

Optical illusions are your friend. Giedre changed her plain white skirt for a zebra print midi skirt with a high slit. The stripes on the skirt make her appear taller. She added a cute, black tote bag to complete this look. 

Fitted fit

Some women tend to choose loose-fitted clothes to hide any perceived flaws, but this can often make a person’s body appear larger than it actually is. Giedre illustrates how simply cinching the waist of a dress with a belt immediately creates a slimmer shape, as it draws attention to the narrowest part of the body. 

High-rise jeans

In this look, Giedre switches a pair of bright white relaxed-fit jeans for off-white high-rise jeans. Combined with a tucked-in shirt, this white outfit has been given shape and depth and looks flattering and slenderizing on the wearer.

Show some skin

This side-by-side comparison illustrates how strategically showing some skin draws attention upwards, and away from the wider parts of the body. The belt and bag play off the dark shade of her cami and add cohesiveness to the outfit. 

Create strategic focal points

This white outfit is almost perfect, but Giedre put the finishing touches on with a pink sweater tied around her shoulders and a pair of colorful sneakers. These focal points make the outfit more interesting and draw the eye away from the midsection, making the wearer appear slimmer.

Choose chunky shoes

By tucking in her shirt and adding chunky zebra-print shoes, Giedre makes herself appear taller in this white outfit. The red bag adds a pop of color for the perfect finishing touch. 

Nude accessories

In the first outfit, the black belt and shoes cut the body, making the wearer appear short. Giedre switches them out for a wide, white belt and nude shoes, so her look is one uniform shade from top to bottom, making her appear taller. The rolled-up sleeves, which end at the same height as her waist, draw the eye to the narrowest part of her body.

Layers

Giedre switches out the chunky, button-up sweater for a sleek, off-white jacket, layered over a white button-down shirt. She tucked in the top to accentuate her waist and added white shoes for top-to-bottom color uniformity. This, in addition to the rolled cuffs on her jeans, makes her appear taller. 

Accentuate your waist

As shown previously, accentuating the waist is one of the simplest ways to make yourself appear slimmer in white or any other color. Giedre’s belt and tucked-in shirt show this principle perfectly. The open vest adds a vertical, elongating element to the outfit. 

Which of these tips for styling white clothing did you find helpful?