Women

Not all women have the same body shape, and that’s OK. Find the right dress this holiday season to flatten your figure and let yourself shine with the celebration of the new year to come. The silhouettes and details of each dress highlight the features and minimize the trouble areas of each body type to make every woman look and feel her best.

Hourglass

Women with an hourglass shape have a proportionate bust and hips with a smaller waist. Look for a dress that highlights your curves and accentuates your small waist.

Try: Wrap dress, princess seams, fitted waist, belts

Avoid: Sheath dress, form fitting, draping

Circular

Women with a circular shape are widest at their midsection. Look for a dress that minimizes your midsection and highlights your shoulders and legs.

Try: Empire dress, trapeze/tent dress, sheath dress, neck details, flowy fabric

Avoid: Shift dress, fitted waist

Ruler

Women with a ruler shape are fairly straight up and down with few curves. Some women with a ruler shape can also have an athletic shape and be taller. Look for a dress that adds curves to your body, drawing attention to your waist, and plays to your slim figure. Many dress types work for your body shape.

Try: Shift dress, A-line dress, bodycon dress, fitted waist, pleats, poufs

Avoid: Empire dress, tent dress

Athletic

Women with an athletic shape also have few curves as well with broader shoulders and a more muscular body. Look for a dress that draws attention away from your shoulders and highlights your slim figure.

Try: Halter dress, peplum dress, fitted waist, draping, ruching, deep neckline

Avoid: Shift dress, one-shoulder dress, yoke dress, shoulder pads/poufs

Triangle

Women with a triangle shape have wider hips than shoulders, and usually a slimmer waist. Look for a dress that elongates and balances your body by accentuating your top half.

Try: Fit and flare dress, one-shoulder dress, A-line dress, empire dress, open-neck, off-the-shoulder

Avoid: Drop waist dress, bodycon dress, shift dress, peplum dress

Inverted Triangle

Women with an inverted triangle shape have a wider top section with broad shoulders and a larger bust and narrow hips. Look for a dress that softens your top half and balances your lower half.

Try: A-line dress, halter dress, drop waist dress, V-neck, low scoop neck, full skirt, princess seams, tailored structure

Avoid: Empire dress, yoke dress, shift dress, collars, shoulder poufs

Full-figured

Women who are full-figured have voluptuous curves and can have diverse body portions. Look for a dress that accentuates your best features and doesn’t conceal your shapely body.

Try: Wrap dress, A-line dress, bodycon dress, shift dress, swing dress, tailored structure, draping

Avoid: Shirt dress, empire dress, high waistline, ruffles, pleats

Men

How to correctly match a suit, shirt and tie is often overlooked in menswear. Basic principles of creating color combinations lie within the color wheel, including complimentary, contrasting and monochromatic color schemes. A simple rule for starters is to always match the tie to the shirt, not the suit. Also, the tie should always be darker than the shirt to stand out, unless the shirt is a very dark shade.

Color Schemes

Complementary: directly opposite on the color wheel, high contrast

Ex: Blue and orange, red and green

Contrasting: colors that form a triangle on the color wheel

Ex: Green, orange and purple, blue, red and yellow

Tertiary: colors that are next to each other on the color wheel, more subdued

Ex: Blue-green, blue and blue-purple

Monochromatic: different shades of the same base color

Ex: Light blue, blue and navy

Suits

Navy: Pair with white and light blue shirts and try brown or grey pants to mix it up

Light Grey: Pair with light blue, chambray, light pink and red shirts

Charcoal: Pair with white, purple, light blue, red and chambray shirts

Black: Pair with white, light blue, light pink shirt, any color pastel color will match

The shirt and tie combinations should fall within the color scheme, whether solid or patterned, to avoid any distasteful pairings.

Shirts

White: Any tie matches, mix it up with a bold color, abstract pattern or knit texture

Solid: Pick a tie with a darker shade of complementary, contrasting or base color, pattern or texture

Striped: Pick a tie with a hint of the shirt color in it, balance large patterns with small patterns, vary stripe orientation (vertical with horizontal or striped) and width (narrow with thick)

Checked: Pick a tie with a larger pattern than the shirt (wide-spaced polka dots or thick block stripes), or a solid tie in a subtle base tone, bold stripe, avoid intricate patterns

Shoes

Black: Worn with black, light grey, charcoal and navy in a formal setting

Brown: Worn with navy, light grey and tan suits and black suit in informal setting

Men and women alike are now prepared to dominate the holiday party scene with dashing good looks thanks to the women’s dress guide and men’s matching tutorial. Ring out the year celebrating in style.