Now that you know your body shape (if you don’t, check my previous post on male body shapes) you need to know what to wear and what not to wear. Below are tips for each body shape.

Athletic

The athletic man is in luck because he can wear most styles and patterns. You should select clothes and accessories that compliment your natural colouring, personality and lifestyle.

Tall

• Choose clothes that fit your body shape. Pay extra attention to ensure that jackets, trousers and shirts finish at the correct length.

• Wearing a contrasting belt to your trousers will break the continuity of your height and therefore lessen your tallness to the casual observer.

• One colour worn head to toe adds inches, so break up the colours to detract from your height.

• Don’t try to hide your height by covering it with ill-fitting clothes. Big or baggy clothes look untidy and do nothing to compliment your frame.

• Avoid thin pin stripes and checks designs as they will be lost on your tall frame.

Short

• Streamline your clothes to ensure a neat overall appearance that adds inches instantly to your height.

• Remember that one colour worn head to toe is slimming and adds inches in height literally! Darker colours are more flattering and brighter and lighter colours bring attention to that area of wear.

• Choose shoes to match as closely to your trouser colour as possible. This will add inches to your leg length.

• Avoid bold patterns that are too over powering for your shape and will take away rather than add much needed inches.

• Do not allow your cuffs to be too long as they will shorten your arms. You must ensure they finish just below the sleeve of your jacket.

Heavy

• Shoe colour chosen to match your trousers will add inches to your leg length.

• For your shirts, keep styles simple in plain colours with fabric detailing as opposed to pattern detailing.

• One colour worn head to toe is instantly flattering and slimming. Darker colours generally tend to be more flattering than lighter and brighter ones.

• Don’t feel grateful that clothes sort of fit! Sort of is not good enough and ill fitting clothes will make you look even larger than you are.

Thin

• Look for detail in shirts that will bulk out your frame in terms of pattern and colour. These details must compliment your personality too.

• Go for big double cuffs as they will also detract from long arms.

• Add a contrasting belt colour to trouser, to cut the body at the waist point adding inches where needed most.

• Avoid clothes that are baggy as they will create a shapeless frame for your frame or those that are too tight as they make you appear thinner than you are.