Short legs long torso - how to avoid looking stumpy?

[BrimfulOfBaba]

Please save me from looking dowdy! My awkward proportions usually see me wearing fit and flare dresses. I want to wear jean+top combos more but I'm struggling to not look like a tree stump.

Main problem is my body is about two thirds torso, one third legs!! I'm 5ft 3 and a size 10, give or take. Standard big boobs and hips, smaller waist but some extra weight around the middle which I am trying to shift.

Any advice for how to branch out of my fit and flare state with some confidence? In an ideal world, I would dress like Rosa Diaz from Brooklyn 99. I do accept reducing fat around my middle will help a lot but any advice about combinations of lengths with tops, jackets etc?

Watching with interesting as same - 5 ft 3 (& 1/2!), size 10, hourglass!

Envious of that extra half @AuldReekieCreakymemory! What cut jeans do you tend to for, out of interest? My (our?!) proportions make me feel anything that isn't a skinny/slim jean swamps me, but if my thighs are a bit more...shapely than usual, the skinny jeans just make me look quite circular.

So much sympathy!

I wear Levi 725 Highrise Bootcut as I am also generous of thigh (muscular legs!) and I find these slimming in the thigh and leg lengthening, and I feel the slight bootcut balances me out. Can't get on with skinnies as always felt like an overstuffed sausage skin!

Have the sane issue of a long torso & short legs so interested to hear peoples' thoughts on this

You need to give the illusion of a more balanced torso:leg ratio, so either wear dresses (which don't make it so obvious where the tops of your legs are), or emphasise your waist. This is easier if your natural (smallest part of) waist is high on the torso - I assume it is, if fit and flare dresses sit right on you. So:

• Only high waisted jeans/skirts/trousers - the higher the better. Tuck tops in or wear cropped tops.
• Wear belts over dresses to draw the eye upwards
• Heels if you are happy to wear them - especially with longer trousers
• Also I've never done this as it feels frumpy to me, but shoes in the same colour as your bottoms elongates your legs. Ok with black, but who wants to wear blue shoes with jeans?

My current favourite jeans are H&M vintage slim high, but I'd love to find a proper high waist pair as I know they'd look good on me. I am 5'6 though.

DS has this issue and he's also obsessed with fashion. He goes for high waisted trousers, full length or ankle cropped, never 3/4 length but also never too long. I am amazed how much difference this makes to disguising the shortness of leg.

Have a look at Trinny Woodhall. She always gives the illusion of being very tall and slim, and yet in one episode of What not to Wear, she took off her shoes and maybe her dress/ top (can’t quite remember) and demonstrated she actually didn’t have the long legs we thought she had, but a long torso and short legs.
It may have been about covering that crotch area (Long line top for example) so you can’t actually see the length of the legs. She liked a lot of dresses over trousers and shoes with a bit of height.
Sorry can’t remember all of the details!

Trinny on how to dress her body so her body looks shorter and Legs look longer Sorry it’s a daily fail link

Maybe go for a longer top which disguises where your crotch is, but with side splits to elongate your legs.

Emphasise the good and disguise everything else.

Duchess of Cambridge also has long body short legs and you wouldn't guess

Duchess of Cambridge also has long body short legs and you wouldn't guess

I don’t think I’ve ever seen her not wearing heels.

Avoid cropped trousers and midi skirts.

Jumpsuits and pinafores that aren't fitted.

shoes and tights and skirt in the same colour

top & bottoms in the same colour

Yes, really tiny little legs and a very long torso.

I don't think Kate's legs are really short. But see her in her very high waisted dress with high heels you would think she had endless legs.

What I meant is that if you copy her styles you can't go far wrong.

Oh, I could go horribly wrong dressed as Kate.

I'm a different body shape and much shorter. I'd look like a little tank.

Her MIL dressed very nicely for her body shape, once she went for a more streamlined look, but she too was tall, slim and athletic.

Dare I suggest the front tuck?

Ooh what's a front tuck @Susannahmoody?

It's a french tuck. Instead of tucking the top into your waistband, you just tuck a little bit of the front in, so that the back of the top is still long, but the tucked in bit gives a nod to your waistband.

If you search for it, you'll find images and videos, but this pic gives an idea.

I think you have two options: one is a high rise waist in trousers, and as BlairWaldorf said, a single flow of colour plus heels with full length trousers or a very carefully calculated slightly short trouser length so there's only a sliver of skin/sock showing. A single colour right to the floor works well, but monochrome dressing needs variation in texture and sheen to avoid looking flat.

The alternative, which is probably easier to wear in everyday practical reality, is a narrower jean with layers, so a plain longer crotch-covering disguising layer underneath (it needs to finish 1cm below your crotch) and something a bit shorter and a bit billow-y and more eye-catching on top. A long line vest plus a short kimono jacket for example. All the emphasis needs to be on the most visible layer, the disguise layer is tonally similar to the jeans or trousers.

I am exactly this shape too. Dresses with a high waist (the shirred ones this summer are great) are flattering. I struggle with the French tuck as it never looks quite right on me but one thing that definitely helps and will be practical as the weather cools down is an open long line cardigan in same colour/shade/tone as my trousers, worn over a different colour top tucked in. So for example black cigarette trousers, black long line open cardigan and a bright silk top tucked into trousers. Even with flat shoes (admittedly also in black) I don’t feel too stumpy. Unfortunately I’ve given up on skirts completely- if anyone knows how to wear one please tell. There is too much going on around my (thickening) waist to handle a skirt.

@BrimfulOfBaba

Envious of that extra half *@AuldReekieCreakymemory*! What cut jeans do you tend to for, out of interest? My (our?!) proportions make me feel anything that isn't a skinny/slim jean swamps me, but if my thighs are a bit more...shapely than usual, the skinny jeans just make me look quite circular.

I get the skinny jeans because they don't need to be taken up like every other style does. The extra material just gathers at the bottom of the leg. As a pear shaped 5'3 and size 12, I'd so love to be an hourglass and wouldn't worry so much about my short legs then.