5 Tricks To Look Slimmer With Clothes
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Brian Sacawa is the Founder of He Spoke Style and one of the original men’s style influencers.
MoreIf you’ve wondered how to look slimmer just with clothing, you’ve come to the right place.
To begin, I think it’s extremely important to state that nobody needs to be slim or skinny. All bodies are different and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with whatever shape or size you happen to be.
Yet, no matter who you are or what your body looks like, it’s likely that you may have some sort of insecurity with your body that can affect your confidence and how you present yourself to the world.
To be completely honest, body insecurity is something I’ve dealt with my entire life. Even though I have generally maintained a fairly slim physique — partly genetic, partly hard work and discipline — there are a couple areas of my body that I really don’t like and always try to hide, which is actually one of the reasons I love tailored clothing. More on that later.
At the end of the day, it’s all about feeling your best and if looking a little slimmer is going to help you have more confidence, well, let’s explore how to accomplish that simply with the clothing you wear and how you wear it.
In this post, I’ve rounded up five ways to use clothes to look slimmer. Let’s jump right in.
Wear Black
Wearing black clothing is one of the simplest and most effective ways to appear slimmer. Black clothing helps to create a streamlined silhouette. And it’s not magic, there’s actually a very good reason this works. Black absorbs light, which means that it hides shadows cast by bulges or extra weight and works to downplay contours of your body in areas that you might be feeling self-conscious about.
Additionally, black clothing really exaggerates what all clothing and well put together outfits should do — draw attention up from your body and frame your face. You can see this illustrated very clearly in the outfit I’m wearing above. Your personality is always the most important part of any outfit so anything you can do to help highlight that and focus on conversation and personal interactions is a huge win.
In short, wearing black is a stylishly simple way to look slimmer and feel more confident in your appearance.
Wear A Sport Coat
Another great way for guys to look slimmer with clothing is by wearing a sport coat. If the sport coat is well-made and well-tailored, the shoulders and slight narrowing of the waist can help create the illusion of a slimmer figure. It’s one of the reasons you’ll often hear people say that a great tailor will hide your imperfections. For example, a sport coat does a great job of hiding extra weight, especially in the chest. So if “man boobs” are an issue for you, this is a great way to mask that and be incredibly well-dressed!
Additionally, a sport coat has something else going for it in terms of slimming you down — the lapels. The lapels themselves create a vertical line that draws the eye up and down. This effect makes your appear not only slimmer, but taller and leaner as well.
Vertical Lines, Not Horizontal
While a sport coat or suit jacket’s lapels help create a sense of elongation, you can get even more literal (and effective) by incorporating vertical lines. In terms of men’s clothing that means we’re talking about pinstripes or chalk stripes. These vertical lines draw the eye up and down, lengthening your figure, slimming you down, and creating the illusion that you are taller.
On a personal note to that point, many people who only know me from the internet (or Instagram or YouTube) often think I am much taller than I actually am. Although I’d consider myself a normal height — 5’ 9” (180cm) — when I mention my height, I get lots of comments of the “wow, I thought you were over six feet” variety. Just goes to show that how you wear clothing can affect how people see you physically.
Now, if your goal is to appear slimmer, not all lines are created equal. In contrast to vertical lines, which draw your eye up and down, horizontal lines draw the eye side to side, making you appear wider. This happens because horizontal lines will emphasize the width of your frame.
One final thing to pay attention to is that the size and spacing of any vertical lines you’re wearing can have an effect on how slimming they appear. In general, the thinner and closer together the lines are, the more slimming they’ll be.
Get Rid Of Baggy Clothes
If you are self-conscious about your body shape, baggy clothing may seem like an easy answer to dealing with that. Although baggy and overly baggy clothing may seem like a great choice in terms of comfort and hiding the things, like extra weight or bulges, that you’re insecure about, the reality is that it only serves to exaggerate and make you look larger.
Although baggy clothing is currently, as of this writing, enjoying something of a resurgence in menswear, overly loose garments not only make you look larger, but they look unkempt. Without shape to the garment, there’s no structure or definition to your figure either.
Which is why from here you should proceed directly to tip number five…
Wear Clothes That Fit
One of the most important factors when discussing how to look slimmer with clothes is to wear clothing that actually fits you — and fits you well. This is crucial.
Properly fitting clothing will significantly enhance your appearance and will make you look slimmer by accentuating your natural form in the most positive way and hiding all of those things that may make you feel insecure about your body.
Think about someone wearing a suit jacket or sport coat that’s too tight. You see the button pulling. They look uncomfortable and you feel uncomfortable for them! Nothing worse than that. And to reference tip number four again, if something is too loose, you’ll look larger than you actually are and not very well put together.
I’m going to say this once: tight does not equal well-tailored. I think there is a prevalent and extremely common misconception that tailored clothing is uncomfortable. For every person who complains about such a thing or makes that pronouncement, I would wager that all of them are wearing clothing that is too tight.
Everything we offer in the HSS Shop and the fitting process you are guided through is designed to help you understand your body type so you are receiving clothing that fits you properly. When you wear clothing made that way, it instantly creates a more flattering — and slimmer — appearance.
The Bottom Line
The most important thing I hope you take away from this post is that it’s not just about looking slimmer, what we’re actually doing is trying to enhance and flatter our natural body shape and cultivate a sense of confidence and positive thoughts about your own body. Yes, clothing can be a powerful means of expressing yourself and your personal style, but it also has an incredible ability to increase your confidence and completely transform how you present yourself to the world.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
Brian Sacawa
Brian Sacawa is the Founder of He Spoke Style and one of the original men’s style influencers. Since 2013, his goal has remained the same: to provide men the advice and inspiration they need to dress well, develop their personal style, and gain more confidence. Brian’s interest and passion for men’s style and luxury watches has led to his writing for The Robb Report, The Rake, and Sotheby’s and he has been quoted on menswear in publications such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Today.com, Brides Magazine, and the Huffington Post. He lives in the woods north of Baltimore with his wife, Robin, kitties Nick and Nora, and German Shepherd/Collie mix Charlie.
Photography & Videography by Rob McIver
