Apparently we’re all getting bigger – men’s shoe sizes have increased over the past three decades, so the average size, which used to be nine, is now 11 and the ‘average’ woman is now a size 12-14, whereas twenty years ago she was a 10-12. And it’s not just being fatter – we’re also an average of two inches taller than our parents and three inches taller than our grandparents.
So, how does the bigger person dress to look at their best – is it automatically necessary to wear tent-like clothing and clumsy shoes or can you look slim and stylish?
For men, the situation has improved a lot recently – the rise of sports clothing, or sport casual as it’s called in the USA, means that you can look fantastic without having to shop around too much.
There are a lot of old rules about dressing to look slim that no longer apply – for example, all the ‘larger size’ specialists used to tell men to buy shirts with vertical stripes because it was slimming – but nowadays, any fitted shirt that’s striped implies that you’re hiding your gut, so it’s better to buy an end-on-end weave or plain shirt with a good pleat in the back and let the tails hang out to conceal any tummy you might wish to conceal. Alternatively, buy a loose fit polo-shirt that fits perfectly on the shoulders and wear it with a pair of dark coloured tailored trousers. This fools the eye into believing the shirt is tailored too, and that you’re actually slim-fit!
Mens sweatshirts are often recommended to the larger guy, because they tend to be comfortable clothing that comes in XXXL sizing, but if you want to give the illusion of slimness, you’re better to invest in some pastel hoodies with a front zip, and wear them over a dark T-shirt. The V-shape that a half-zipped hoody makes, when worn over a darker undergarment, has a naturally slimming effect, especially when worn with dark trousers and black trainers which lead the eye to see you as narrowing from the shoulders to the feet.
