Clinton Kelly's Style Rx
It's $2.99 and you enter your measurements for bust, waist, and hip. It takes an hour for the info to be processed and once it's done a video will be available for you. The video shows Clinton explaining the top three style tips for you based on your measurements. I love the tips. He explained exactly what I need to wear for my pear-shaped body type. Also included is a style guide which is about 10 pages you flip through explaining more of what you should wear and what you shouldn't wear based on your measurements.
Clinton says in my video the following three tips:
- Wear mid-rise pants that start at the widest part of my hip and go all the way down, in other words wide leg, straight leg and boot-cut pants.
- Because my bust is so small in comparison to my hips I need to add volume to my upper half to balance out my wider hips by wearing detailed blouses that have dimension and pattern.
- Wear heels to make me seem taller which will then make me appear thinner.
The guide says balance is key for my body type since my bust and waist are so small in comparison to my wider hips and butt, so adding volume to the top is really going to give me more of that much-desired hourglass shape. It is really important for me to stay away from pants that are low rise and tapered and that have bleaching or whiskering on the hips and/or thighs. That means no skinny jeans! I bought some skinnies so I could tuck them into my knee high boots, but I guess it would be better if I left my knee high boots to wear with skirts and dresses. However, my knee high rain boots MUST be worn with skinny jeans, so I will wear the skinnies from now on only with my rain boots. My tops and jackets need to be no longer than my hip bone. A-line dresses and skirts are best for my hips, and if I want to wear a pencil skirt it will look better if I wear a blouse with a lot of volume and detail, and bigger necklaces will also draw attention upward. It says a boxy jacket is good for me to balance out the hips and of course have an emphasis at my waist. The guide also mentioned I need to stay away from tops that are too tight.
Another fun thing included is the Dressing Room. There are drawings of items of clothing that work for your body type and next to those is a drawing of a body shape that looks like yours. The "me" is pretty right on to my body shape. Wider hips, small bust, small waist. Then you can click on the wardrobe pieces and drag on to "me" to make an outfit. Then you click on each piece of clothing and it will give you a description of the piece and tell you why it works for your body! Awesomeness! I have learned a lot about what I should wear and also to avoid wearing and why this is so. It is worth every penny of my $2.99. Yay Clinton! I love you even more now.
Another helpful part included are the videos with Clinton explaining why tailoring is so important. Explanations are given for the gap in the back on your pants when your waist is smaller than your hips/butt; sleeve length, petites, etc.
So, after studying my guide, last week I went to Style Underdog's tailor and had him take in at the waist every single pair of my jeans. Now they don't fall down. They have always fallen down a bit and I guess I just got used to it. It never seemed that bothersome or uncomfortable, but now that all my pants FIT around my waist properly, it is AMAZINGLY comfortable!! I have noticed such a difference in the fit. I also got my basic tees hemmed up to my hipbone. I guess I should look for tees in the petites department. I measured all my tees beforehand, and they were mostly 26-27" in length. Now they are all 24". I checked the descriptions of basic tees online in petites sizes, and they are mostly 24". I suppose I'll be shopping for tops in petite sizes in the future. I still can't wear petite sized pants. They are too short for me. I am 5'4", and that is about the tallest of petite sizes, so not everything in petites will work for me. I suppose I am short-waisted, so that's why the petite tops will most likely work.
The thing that is a bit frustrating after all the tailoring of my pants is that now the hem lengths are coming up a bit short. I should have expected this. Before the tailoring my pants used to fall down lower because they were too loose around my waist, but they WERE at the correct hem length. Now, not so much. They aren't total high waters, but they are definitely shorter than Clinton's guidelines of being 1/4-1/2" from the floor. I don't like this one bit. :( I guess I need new jeans now. Darn. Or maybe I can see about taking the hems down a bit?
Last week I started using the tripod. I need more adjusting and figuring on this so bear with me please. See how my pants are shorter now. BLECH. Too short. They look like they are 2.5" or 3" from the floor! Yikes.
ETA: Correction: These pants are not boot-cut but straight leg. I think straight leg are supposed to be a little shorter than wide leg or boot-cut. I will investigate Clinton's latest book since he has guidelines for hem lengths of the different cuts of pants.
Volunteering At Preschool Outfit
Semantiks 'Bree' black straight leg pants - Nordstrom
Sweet Pea by Staci Frati mesh top printed pink/red/gray roses - Nordstrom
Old Navy charcoal boyfriend cardigan
Style & Co. black skinny belt - macys.com
Cole Haan 'Air Carma' OT pumps black patent - Nordstrom
Macy's brand hematite ball necklace
