Finding Your True Fit

Ever gone trawling through online shopping websites and stopped short at an absolutely breathtaking Zara blouse you saw on a model, just for it to arrive at your doorstep and for you to find out it’s nowhere near as beautiful on you as on the model? Well, that happens to us all. And no, it’s not your body’s fault. 

The single biggest contributor to unflattering clothes is fit. Perhaps you’ve heard of this before, and even if you have, it bears repeating. The wrong fit of clothes can make even the most gorgeous dress appear unflattering; it can pinch and wrinkle in all the wrong places and sag in all the rest. Some of you may despair that this means you are restricted to buying only those clothes that fit perfectly. And if it were true, you would surely have cause to despair, for how could you possibly expect to find the perfect fit for yourself widely when all of us have such unique bodies and body types?

But you might not always just serendipitously stumble upon a piece of clothing that you like that also just happens to fit your body like a glove. No, finding the perfect fit can often mean altering that piece of clothing to perfectly fit your body. Most retail shops will offer an altering service for a small fee (just remember to ask the shop attendants if they do). All you have to do is deposit the article of clothing closest to your size to the alterations station, and they should measure you and make the requisite changes quickly. But, before you even make it to the alteration station, you need to pick out the article of clothing closest in fit to your true fit. And there are a few guidelines and best practices you can follow to make this job easier. 

True Fit 

The first step in preparation before going shopping is to know your exact measurements. This means taking out that tape measure and having someone measure your different sizes. The most important are your height, shoulders, waist, hips, and bust. There will be additional measurements to take if you’re going bra shopping, so if you find yourself at a Wild Crush lingerie store, you may want to ask the shop attendant to measure your bust size than to do it at home. Once you have these measurements taken, be sure to note them down somewhere you can always refer to when you are shopping. 

The next step is to know what size you are closest to in different shops. As you may know by now, different brands often size tag their clothing differently. Turns out, there’s a bit of a psychology behind this. Brands that size their clothing smaller often leave their customers feeling more positively about the experience, and so some brands have a way of playing with their size tags to manufacture this positivity. After all, what does a XXXS size tag even mean really? What this practice involves is you needing to know what size you are in these different stores and not just assume that the size you are in one will be the one you are in another. And your best friend to make this happen is the size chart. Garments of clothing will not only have a size tag on them, but also include measurements. So will any online store. Check these out firstly, and memorize which size you are in the brands you frequent so you don’t have to keep checking every time you buy from them.

Finding Your Fit: Guidelines

Now, there are a few specific guidelines to follow for different types of clothing. For shirts and jackets, check where the shoulder seams fall on you. If they fall exactly at your shoulders, you know they are the perfect fit for you. For shirts, with oversized clothing being quite popular, shoulder seams that overshoot your shoulders may be part of the style. However, for jackets, I would recommend having them sit right on your shoulders to avoid looking swallowed up by the jacket. You should also check where the sleeves hit and ensure they end right at the wrist to look the cleanest. 

Jeans, unlike what many people think, should not cinch your waist. Overly tight jeans will produce a muffin top which is unflattering on anybody, not to mention uncomfortable; it may leave you gasping for breath after a meal. To measure the correct size of your jeans, see if you can slip in two fingers between your waist and the waistband of the jeans. If successful, then the jeans are the right fit around the waist. If the pant legs are too long, get them altered. 

For dresses, there’s not really a hard and fast rule. It depends on your body and your comfort level. Most times, trying something on will instantly let you know what fits right and looks flattering—and unflattering—on your body. Once you have identified a few such styles, you may wish to purchase more dresses of these sorts. My only suggestion would be to try out these styles in person in a retail store before you transition to purchasing clothes online so you can be assured that the styles fit you right. 

Getting the right fit is an integral component to dressing well, regardless of how stylish you are. Following these few guidelines when choosing clothes, and altering those pieces that don’t fit you perfectly, will go a long way to flattering your body.