When determining what to wear you need to consider not only your Body Shape, but also another Body Element: Body Proportions. In this post you’ll learn how to place design lines if you have a long torso and short legs to create balance.
My Body Proportions are exactly this way. This isn’t something I knew about my body until I measured my proportions. I always thought my body was well balanced including my torso and legs. I came to this conclusion because I always have trouble finding pant legs long enough in the ready-to-wear market. Pant legs are typically at least an inch too short on me, which is one of the reasons I sew my own pants.
Instinctively I knew I couldn’t wear capris pants because I looked and felt out of balance in them. It wasn’t until I understood my torso vs legs Body Proportions that I understood why capris pants don’t look good on me. Capris pants made my legs appear even shorter. In this post you will learn why.
Body Proportions gives us two clues:
- Placement of horizontal and vertical lines
- The second clue to determine the scale of prints and accessories
In this post I’ll only concentrate on the placement of horizontal and vertical lines. When placed incorrectly you’ll feel out of balance, like I did. When you’re in balance you can easily tap into your confidence and personal power.
Anatomy Of A Long Torso & Short Legs
Understanding your Body Proportions is comparing the length of your body areas to that of a well-proportioned body at your same height. A well-proportioned body is eight heads tall. The body areas are:
- Head — 1 head
- Chin to bust — 1 head
- Bust to waist — 1 head
- Waist to crotch — 1 head
- Crotch to knees — 2 heads
- Knees to floor — 2 heads
Most women don’t have a well-proportioned body. My Body Proportions are:
- Head — Same
- Chin to bust — Long
- Bust to waist — Long
- Waist to crotch — Same
- Crotch to knees — Same
- Knees to floor — Short
As a result my torso is around 3 inches longer than my legs.
To learn more about Body Proportions read my post on this subject: Body Proportions — Out Of Balance?
What To Wear -- Placement of Horizontal Lines
I wrote about horizontal lines in, Horizontal Lines: Friend Or Foe. Horizontal lines:
- Stop your eye and bring focus to an area
- Widen the area
- Shorten the area
Look at these rectangles and notice where your eye stops, and how the rectangles with a horizontal line appear wider and shorter than the one without a horizontal line:
As a result, when it comes to Body Proportions, wear horizontal lines in long areas and avoid them in short ones. That means place them in long torsos and avoid them in short legs.
By putting them in just the torso area, it will appear shorter and more in balance with your legs.
As I said above I have a long torso and short legs.
Notice when there are horizontal lines in the short leg area the legs look even shorter and the torso looks even longer. But when a horizontal line is at the waist (a good spot for my A Body Shape) my torso appears shorter. Also by putting the horizontal line created by the pants’ hem at the ground, my legs appear longer.
How do you create horizontal lines? You do it through the placement of design lines created by:
- Hems
- Necklines
- Horizontal seam lines
- Pockets
- Belts
- Necklaces
- Scarves
Here are a few examples of horizontal lines:
Horizontal Line Placement -- Body Shape
When placing horizontal lines in the torso area, be aware of your Body Shape. If you have an A (pear), O (Apple) or V (inverted triangle) Body Shape, don’t put them in the widest areas. For more information on understanding your Body Shape and the clues it gives, read my blog post, What Are Your Body Shape Clues. Also go to these blog posts on the best placement of horizontal lines for these Body Shapes:
- A Body Shape — What To Wear For An A (Pear, Triangle) Body Shape
- O Body Shape — What To Wear For An O (Apple) Body Shape
V Body Shape — What To Wear For A V Body Shape
What To Wear -- Placement of Vertical Lines
I wrote about vertical lines in Vertical Lines Can Be A Foe. Vertical lines:
- Draw your eye up and down
- Elongate your appearance and make you look taller
- Cut your body vertically, creating a slimmer profile
Look at these rectangles and notice how your eye is drawn up and down. Also notice how the rectangles with a vertical line appear taller and slimmer than the one without a vertical line.
As a result, when it comes to Body Proportions, wear vertical lines in short areas and use them sparingly (sometimes their hard to avoid) in short ones. That means placing them in short legs and using them sparingly in long torsos.
By putting them in just the leg area, this area will appear longer and more in balance with your long torso.
As I said above I have a long torso and short legs. I use vertical lines to make my legs appear longer.
Here are examples of vertical lines in pants:
Vertical lines are created by design lines: open pleat, trim and seams. It also can be as simple as pressing a seam in the center front and back (last picture on right). This is my favorite way to create vertical lines.
Summary
Many women’s torsos are longer than their legs. If this is you, you’re in good company. You can create balance by using both horizontal lines in the torso area and vertical lines in the leg area.
However, always keep in mind your Body Shape. If you have an A (pear), O (apple) or V (inverted triangle) Body Shape keep in mind the best placement of horizontal and vertical lines to make sure balance is created.
This INC Jumpsuit from above would be perfect for a long torso, short legs, V Body Shape. The tie creates a horizontal line at the waist. The sleeve line creates a raglan sleeve or vertical line making the shoulders appear thinner and the vertical lines created by the open legs create length in the legs.
If you have the opposite problem, then you’ll like next week’s post. It’s on how to create balance for those of you with long legs and short torsos. It’s called: What To Wear For Long Legs & Short Torso.
Wear Your Greatness!!
