I Dream of Havana: Proportional Play & The Style Breakdown

Photography by: Anna Reagan Photography

Playing with proportions is one of those things that can bring some excitement into your outfit. Making sure that your outfit is proportional is always a good idea, but isn’t required to look good. You can definitely wear pieces that aren’t the best styles for your body type but the styling around this piece has to compliment or distract in order to make this work for you correctly. Playing with proportions is a really good strategy to utilize if you prefer neutral colors or a solid colored wardrobe in general. It just brings just the right amount of interest to your look and it makes it more conversation worthy. We all love a white tee and jeans, right? With proportions into play, you can still render the same concept, but what if your white top had an asymmetric hem or a slanted sleeve? These things are what takes your outfit into the stage of elevation. Easy but always memorable. You would just need to compliment or distract to make your outfit work.

Because I’m a little extra at times, I pilled up my look up with lots of different style elements. Starting off with mixing prints, I paired this cropped, black and white striped top with an off the shoulder neckline and small peplum hem with a leopard, tiered tea length skirt. I don’t have to explain why these two prints work together because you guys know that already, right? Imagine both of these pieces in two different solid colors or all one color. There are already enough proportional elements happening here without the prints, but when you know your body, what looks good on you and what it is that you really like, you can start combining different style elements within your pieces and then your entire outfit. If this look was all one color, and that was the only thing that changed, it would’ve made me look leaner, longer and proportionate due to the pieces I paired together.

Wearing all one color tricks the eye into making you think that a person is actually taller than what they are because the eye is following the color trail (up and down.) If this look would’ve been the same style of pieces with two different colors, I wouldn’t have looked as lean or as long, but I still would’ve been in proportion due to the style of pieces that I paired together, in addition to my belt to cinch in my waist. Make sense? After mixing prints, I took it a step further to incorporate a peplum and a tiered piece which falls in line with the proportional play. Peplum pieces are already structured in the shape of an hourglass. The way that they are cut and how the waist seam distinctly shows your waist, gives you the illusion of an hourglass shape, even if you don’t have one. Even though my bottom half, which is the bottom half of the hourglass, is already filled because I’m bottom heavy, I added light volume with layers in my skirt.

This is the perfect example of not needing to wear a certain piece to make me look proportionate, but deciding to compliment it with my peplum top. If you were top heavy and you wanted to fill in your bottom half, a skirt like this would be perfect to do so. Because there was a layer added from my top, it added a continuous theme. To further accentuate my waist, I added in a belt. If you take a look at one of the pictures, you can see the hourglass-shape formed from my belt, outwards. From my belt, either way your eye travels, you can see the diagonal lines that travel upward and downward away from my waist. It isn’t always necessary to define your waist. I don’t always do it because I like to wear oversized garments and I sometimes like the look as is, but if you want to always be proportionate, it’s ideal if you know the tricks to dress your body type.

Remember, compliment or distract when dressing. Compliment the pieces that you’re wearing or distract away from the piece that’s not necessarily suited for your body type with a bold accessory or a statement piece. To finish my look, I decided to go with my forever love for a Havana, Cuba theme and paired it with straw accessories for the ultimate vacation feel and a pair of striped slides with a tassel detail that I’ve worn to death! What are your thoughts on the proportional play? Do you consider this when styling your looks? I’d love to hear your feedback in the comment section. If you’re looking for a personalized approach to dressing proportionally for your body type, visit my Wardrobe Services and pick your package. Thanks so much for joining me back on the site. Subscribe if you haven’t to join the HGG crew and to stay updated on new blog posts and style and fashion news! Wanna keep up with me daily, follow me on Instagram and Facebook! Until next time, Grab your Garb!