do horizontal stripes really make you look bigger?

[waxlyrical]

Have just been sent a Great Plains bargain dress which has horizontal stripes and which, I think is quite flattering, but can almost hear my Mum advising this is a complete no no. Is it all an old wives tale?

yes this is an old wives tale
Buy the dress!

i dont think they always do, try it and see how you feel. I have a thing for stripes sometimes they work sometimes not.

there was a whole bit on QI about this recently (or in fact probably not recently, it was probably a very old one being rerun on Dave) but ANYWAY... stephen fry said conclusively horizontal stripes make you look thinner than vertical ones. i cannnot remember why at all, but i trust stephen implicitly

Yes it is - they actually make you look slimmer than vertical stripes.

Article here

Thanks will definately keep - usually I dont need this much encouragement with new clothes. Like the idea of columns which bulge in the middle being slimmed by horizontal stripes as this is exactly the shape I am!