Create Visual Balance -- Skinny, Slim, Straight, Bootcut, Wide Leg
To create visual balance, look at the pant leg and your body shape. This is the last step in determining if a pair of pants fits your body elements by evaluating the pant legs with respect to your Body Shape. The resulting silhouette should be balanced.That is your eye isn’t drawn to the widest part of your body.
You want your eye to move up and down with ease and take in your whole body. One part shouldn’t stand out from the other. This is one reason why manufacturers/designers love the “H” Body Shape. This Body Shape can wear anything from skinny to wide legs and the pants legs are balanced with the rest of the body.
In this post you will learn:
- Why creating visual balance is important
- What pant leg creates balance for each Body Shape
Why Create Visual Balance
Balance is a feeling derived from being whole and complete; it’s a sense of harmony. Joshua Osenga
Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportion. Coco Chanel
An important step to tap into your confidence and personal power is to create visual balance.
Whenever I wear clothes that are out of balance, I feel out of balance. This is the result of enclothed cognition. When I feel out of balance I’m not able to tap into my confidence and personal power. For me, the only way to stay on track is to feel balanced. To create visual balance I wear clothes that are balanced with my height and width proportions allowing me to stay balanced.
What does this mean? In the post, Body Proportions — Out Of Balance?, I talked about length, body proportion and your body being short, the same or long in given areas compared to the ideal body proportion for your height. To create balance in both Body Shape and Body Proportions I said you could create balance through horizontal and vertical lines.
Balance for Body Shape can also be created through the silhouette of clothes for example the type of pant legs and sleeves.
In the end, whenever determining if you’re in or out of balance, ask yourself if you feel light or heavy. If you feel light then there is balance. On the other hand, if you feel heavy then you’re out of balance.
Create Visual Balance -- Pant Legs
“H” Body Shape
When it comes to balance of pant legs and other body parts, your choices are wide open. Notice in the picture any pant legs create a balanced look.
“O” Body Shape
When looking at pant legs and balance, it all depends on the difference between the waist, hips and thighs. That is: is there a small or big difference between the waist, hips and legs? In most cases skinny and wide leg pants will bring the focus to the width of the waist. Straight leg pants are always a good choice. This pant leg doesn’t over emphasize the difference between the waist, hips and thighs. Bootcut could work too depending on the width of the bootcut and your waist.
“V” Body Shape
The wrong pant leg can look out of balance for the “V” Shaped Body. Depending on how much wider the shoulders are compared to the waist, hips and thighs, determines if you can wear skinny pants. Most “V” Shape women have very skinny legs and no butt and as a result skinny pants will emphasize that and cause imbalance. Straight pants are always a good bet, but slim pants can work depending on how skinny your thighs are. Wide leg pants are also a good choice because the extra fabric creates width creating balance. Bootcut legs depend on the width of the bootcut.
“A” Body Shape
For “A” Body Shaped women straight and bootcut are their best bet for pant legs. Both add fabric at the calf area creating width and a more balanced look. As you can tell in the picture skinny pants accentuates the width of the hips as do wide leg pants, which add more fabric.
“S” and “X” Body Shapes
Like the “H” Body Shapes, “S” and “X” Body Shapes have an easier time with different pant legs. One thing they need to consider is the top they wear. If they are wearing a top that has armhole design lines that make the shoulders appear smaller and wear wide leg pants, the resulting look is out of balance.
Did you learn anything surprising related to which pant legs balance your Body Shape? Or did I just confirm what you already knew? Make a comment below about what you discovered.
The next blog post will be a review of all the action steps to buying pants now that you understand your body elements.
Wear Your Greatness!!
