9 Styling Tips to Look TALLER and LEANER [0:00:00]
So, this holiday season, you ate well and you’ve got the proof, 20 extra pounds of
winter weight. Or maybe you’re a bit on the shorter side, well under 6 foot and you
want to look taller. Gents, wearing clothing that makes you look taller and leaner can
improve the look of any silhouette. Tip number one. When you can wear a jacket,
wear a jacket. Why? It builds up the shoulders. By building up your shoulders, it gives you
the appearance of looking taller. Next up, know how to wear that jacket properly.
So, when you stand up, always button the front of the jacket. And make sure it fits your
body right. An overly size jacket, a bulky big jacket is not going to look good on you.
Now, I talk about jackets a lot - sports jackets, suit jackets, blazer jackets. But, you don’t
always have a formal jacket. You can go down to a more casual jacket.
Right here, I’ve got a suede jacket in a unique color. This is going to draw attention
to the torso to the chest and it’s going to basically create more of a silhouette on
the shoulder points. That’s what we’re looking to do to build up the shoulders to
slim up the torso. Now, talking about building up the chest,
that’s why I like little details like this. We’ve got this pockets right here, these
zippers right here. Very small details, but these lines going across, they draw attention
to the chest area and they build it up. Make sure you pay attention to the style.
So, there are all types of leather jackets out there. Right here, the classic motorcycle
jacket, you’ve seen it many times. The issue with this jacket is it’s bulky. Look at
the layers of leather right in there and, again, on a slimmer silhouette on a guy that’s
overly tall, this is going to work fine. But for a shorter guy for a guy that’s got
a bit of weight, this bulkiness in the build and the design of the jacket can actually
make them look even bigger. That’s why I recommend maybe going for a classic style
like this which just has slimmer lines that go up and down versus having that extra bulk.
Now, another quick hack to look taller is to make sure you get the right jacket. Like
this depends on the style of the jacket. So a sports jacket like this, I want it to go
just at the bottom curvature of the buttocks. If you go longer especially if you’re 5’2”,
5’3”, that jacket is just going to overwhelm you, it’s going to look too long.
Now, what about other types of jackets like that leather jacket? It depends on the style,
but most leather jackets are made to basically hug the waistline. If you buy a leather jacket,
but it goes too long, it covers the buttocks, this style will look bad and it’s just,
again, looks like you’re getting swallowed up by that jacket. It’s going to make you
look shorter. The next hack to looking taller and leaner
is to make sure the items in your wardrobe are tailored to work with each other. Perfect
example, sleeve length. So, your shirt sleeve length and your jacket sleeve length, when
they come together you want to make sure that what we see here is about a quarter to half
an inch, it just looks better. If you go the jacket overly long, it hasn’t
been adjusted, all of a sudden it’s going to cover the shirt, that’s going to make
it look like the jacket is overly sized. If the shirt comes out an inch to an inch and
a half, all of a sudden it’s just going to look like the jacket sleeves are cut too
short. Now, gents, you’ve heard me say this hundreds
of times, fit is king. If you’re wearing bulky clothing, baggy clothing, this is not
going to look good on you. Now, if you’ve already got an entire wardrobe
of bulky oversize clothing, I would recommend you take it to a tailor, try to get it adjusted.
But, one of the best things you can do if you’re just getting started is to buy clothing
that actually fits you. One of the best ways to do this, buy custom pieces.
Now, immediately a lot of you guys are saying, “Oh, that’s way outside of my budget.”
Guys, have you checked out Tailor Store? They’re the sponsor of today’s video and they make
amazing custom shirts at a fair price. Now, gents, if you guys know my background,
I used to own a custom clothier. I have designed over a thousand shirts and I have very high
strict standards when it comes to clothiers I work with. Tailor Store is by far one of
the best shirt manufacturers I’ve ever seen. So, let’s talk about measurements. This
is a huge barrier to guys trying out custom clothing. They don’t want to go to the hassle
of getting forty different measurements. Tailor Store has made this simple. With the Tailor
Store Size Me Up, all you do is download the app. You then take your phone and you lean
against a wall. You take a picture. That’s it, guys. You enter your weight, you enter
your height, and they will build the shirt off of this information.
And, if you worry about not fitting you, they’ve got their perfect fit guarantee. So, if you
get a shirt and it’s just off, there’s something, it’s maybe a little bit too baggy,
a little bit too tight in certain areas, guys, just simply ask them to remake the shirt and
they’ll do it. Next up, let’s talk about all the details
with the shirt. So, one of the first things that I look at is the inside of the shirt.
I want to look at the stitching, I want to look at the way they attach the buttons because
if they paid attention to those details, you know that it’s a quality shirt.
Guys, they knocked it out of the park. The buttons are of great quality. The way they
stitch on the buttons, spot on. And they’ve got luxury fabrics, they’ve got entry level
fabrics. I love their customer service. I love when I order a shirt, they actually send
me an email showing how my shirt is being made, keeping me up-to-date on the progress
when I’m going to get the shirt. Check out Tailor Store. I’m linking to them
down in the description with an amazing deal. Guys, on your first shirt, yes, 40% off, if
you’re a returning customer, 20%. But, use that link, use that deal, it’s the best
you’re going to find out there. [0:04:56]
Next up, let’s talk about your trousers. You’ve got to nail the hem. The hem is quarter
break, half break, no break. What you don’t want to have is full break, full break, full
break which is this right here. Yeah, a horrible look, guys. It just makes you – it makes
you look like you’re wearing your older brother’s pants. Avoid this.
And then, let’s look at the leg line. You don’t – I’m not saying you got to go
skinny, but I am saying look to have it thin, look to have it brought in, look to have it
at least hemmed at the bottom, so that you get a little bit more of a silhouette a little
bit more of a leaner look. If you go overly larger really baggy, again, not a great look
that we want to have. Next up, let’s talk about the V-neck, and
I’m not talking about the overly deep V-neck. No, that’s for undershirt. What we’re
talking about here, V-necks when it comes to the t-shirt, a classic V-neck when it comes
to your sweater, to any type of jumper that you’re going to be wearing.
So, the V-neck, what does it do? It builds up the chest, it draws our attention in there.
In general, they’re a bit more casual. So, don’t think that you can wear a V-neck shirt
to a situation in which you should be wearing a dress shirt, but it is something you could
throw that V-neck sweater over the dress shirt and it’s going to draw build up the chest
a bit more draw attention to that area and I think make you look slimmer and leaner.
Next up, let’s talk about monochromatic looks and lines. So, the monochromatic looks
you’re probably familiar with. This is where you wear a similar color top with the bottom.
What we don’t want to have here is for you being cut in half and us being drawn to the
center area. So, wearing a high contrast belt probably
not a good idea. Wearing white trousers with a black top or black bottoms with a white
shirt, guys, not a good idea because, again, we’re going to be drawn to the contrast
of the colors. Now, what if you want a light-colored shirt
with dark trousers? Again, that’s where you could throw over the dark jacket or you
could even bring in another quick option here which is the vest. And, again, if you’re
a slimmer short guy, vests look amazing. All right. So, let’s talk horizontal lines.
A lot of guys know, okay, I don’t want to go for big lines going across, but that’s
a half truth because even if you’re a bit shorter, yes, you can pull off lines going
across, you just want to make sure they’re higher up on the body.
So, maybe a t-shirt or a sweater with a pattern going across in the chest area, that’s perfectly
fine. But, what you want to avoid are, again, repeating patterns going across or larger
patterns. So, a large window pane pattern maybe that has a thicker chalk stripe, you
want to avoid. But, you can go for smaller repeating patterns that go across and down
like a glen check, that would be perfectly fine.
This pattern right here, I think a guy can pull off. It’s a bit more muted. It doesn’t
matter if you’re 5’4”, if you’re 6’4”. It really comes down to, guys, you understanding
why these rules are there and then leveraging it to your advantage.
And, let’s not forget about heels. Heels on a pair of dress shoes or even a pair of
boots can easily add half an inch, an inch, an inch and a half to your height. Going to
make you look taller, going to make you look leaner.
And, let’s not forget hats. Hats do make you look taller. There’s a classic study
where they lined up all these guys, some of them wearing hats some of them not wearing
hats, they had to guess the height. Guess what? If you wore a hat, people thought you
are an inch and a half to almost two inches taller in general.
Why? It’s all about perception. Now, the big thing with hats is most guys aren’t
used to wearing them, but maybe your wish is to wear ball cap, so why not level it up,
start to wear a cap that’s functional, something that keeps the sun off of your head. And,
of course, don’t be afraid to stand up a bit taller to improve your posture.
And if you’re interested in that, check out this video right here where I teach you
how to very quickly improve your posture. Yes, simply rolling your shoulders back and
improving your posture can improve your perception of height and make you look leaner.
[0:08:23] End of audio