Wednesday August 3, 2011
Celebrity Aisle Style
Jewelry and Style Expert, Michael O’Connor
When you’re looking to be the star of your special day your style decisions and choices are not dissimilar to what celebrities go through for red carpet events – or their own weddings for that matter. There’s a lot that can be learned from watching our favorite celebrities – both good and bad. A celebrity’s style often receives a great amount of professional help and always gleans a great amount of commentary and criticism. Therefore, seeing what works on celebrities who have body types similar to our own can easily be translated into what will work best for us. Let’s take, for example, 3 celebrities, and examine their body types and style choices to see what we can learn. We’ll examine a petite, a slim and a curvy celebrity to see what we can find out.
Reese Witherspoon has a petite, but nicely proportioned frame at 5’2”. Her legs are on the thin side and, according to rumor, she tends to gain weight around the middle. Consequently, when dressing this type of figure there are a few things you want to consider. Giving the illusion of height, ensuring that the waistline looks narrow and drawing attention to the lower, more-shapely areas of the leg. These three guidelines work well for Reese’s body type. When dressing, Reese often gives the illusion of height with monochromatic color schemes, such as black/grey, or using vertical lines, such as deeper “V” necks.
Breaking the lines of the body in higher areas with higher boots and shorter skirts can also help augment the illusion of height. Reese will often wear darker items with lighter patterns or brighter colors at the bust-line or in the hip area to accentuate them while minimizing the waist. Her strapless Armani Prive gown for this year’s Academy Awards with its white band across the top did this beautifully. Reese’s recent wedding choice, a blush colored Monique Lhuillier, addressed all of the concerns, fitting the bill for her body type perfectly. The higher waist of the gown gave height, which was accentuated by the full tulle A-line skirt to the floor.
Zoe Saldana at 5’7” has a lean and slim figure, attributed to her healthy eating habits and regular workouts. Thin bodies, like Zoe’s however, can tend to look rather boyish in appearance and need to be “fleshed out” in the right areas to give curves – a trick that Zoe sometimes forgets. Horizontal lines and stripes, solid colors and tight clothes accentuate Zoe’s slim figure and lack of curves. She looks best when the illusion of a little weight is added to her frame by layering loose jackets and blouses, cinching belts and mixed colors or patterns.
Although her 2010 Academy Awards Givenchy strapless gown was far from a favorite for me, the dress, because of it’s mix of beaded bodice and contrasting skirt consisting of a cinched waist and multi colored bands of ruffles that started at the hip provided her the curves that a slim figure needs. Although the wedding date is not known, Zoe has been engaged to long time boyfriend Keith Britton since June of 2010. If, like most couples, they stick to an engagement of approximately 14 months that means that she’s already looking for a suitable wedding dress. A suggestion for Zoe may be this Monique Lhuillier gown. The strapless dress has an ornamented bodice with a cinching belt to create the illusion of curves up top, while the fit and flare skirt will round out the hip area. Another option might be princess style Alita Graham dress. The ornamented belt will bring in her waist while the full ball gown style skirt will add volume around the hips.
Kim Kardashian is known for her curves. At 5’2 – ½” voluptuous Kim claims 34/26/39 as her measurements. Since she is curvaceous but with a small frame she can easily be mistaken for being larger than she is. Shorter hems or longer floor lengths can add height to her shorter stature while counter balancing wider hips. Additionally closer, tailored and less flowing clothing with belts keeps her figure from looking large or sloppy. Kim often will partner her outfits with longer dangling earrings or layered chain necklaces for a vertical line giving her the illusion of height.
Even though Kim is not yet engaged, she does have a boyfriend and is not afraid to talk about her wedding plans and specifically her choice of wedding dress. The best style of dress for Kim’s frame will be a gown that hugs her upper curves with a fitted bodice and camouflages her wider hips with a ball gown style skirt. She might want to look this Marchesa with cap sleeves. Kim claims that she wants to “feel like a princess” on her wedding day, like every woman so this ball gown style skirt will help her feel that way while hiding her wider hips. The bodice will hug her curves and accentuate her waist while the ornamentation extending to the shoulder will help extend the line for height, while evening out top and bottom. If she decides that she definitely wants strapless, this Alita Graham gown will also help camouflage her rounded bottom while accentuating her upper body.
When trying to decide what your own aisle style will be, take a look at the style choices of your favorite celebrities who have a similar body type as you do. After all, many of those celebrities have had teams of experts helping them put their looks together so there’s definitely something that can be learned from their choices. Think about your wedding aisle as your own personal red carpet with you, the only celebrity on it.
