I posted the above photo a couple of months ago and asked for input. As you can see, that gray tunic hits me right where my hips are widest. And in this outfit, that means the eye goes RIGHT TO ‘EM. Not ideal, as I do my best to minimize my hips.
Most folks said to just donate the tunic, or give it to someone with different proportions. And I have absolutely no problem giving away a piece of clothing that doesn’t work … unless I really like it and feel like it still has potential. And I really like this tunic, and feel it still has potential. Many people don’t see the point in hanging onto something that doesn’t naturally flatter their figures, and I can dig. Why keep anything on hand that fights your proportions, or draws attention to bits you’d rather obscure? And yet blogging has taught me this: Items that don’t naturally work can, sometimes, be MADE to work with a little creative layering or accessorization.
So I took it upon myself to create some different outfits utilizing this tunic to see if it was worth keeping, or destined for the donation pile.
Tunic, long-sleeved white tee, white jeans, white sandalsPart of the reason the tunic draws attention to my hips in the first outfit is that there’s quite a bit of contrast between the pale gray of the tunic and the charcoal of the leggings. Here, I’ve gone with all whites as the backdrop, reducing that contrast considerably.
Tunic, long gray skirt, gray boots, bright scarf as shawlThis is another nearly monochrome ensemble, but a couple of tweaks have been made. The long, pale gray skirt makes the tunic itself appear longer. The bright wrap – as the only colorful element in the outfit – draws the eye upward and away from where the tunic hits my hips.
Tunic, denim skirt, western belt, short suede cowboys, red long-sleeved teeHere, I’ve paired the tunic with a stiff skirt that flares out, in an effort to alter the overall silhouette. Adding the chunky belt – which brings the outfit’s waistline upward a bit – and choosing short boots to show the maximum amount of leg all help create balance. And the red tee, once again, is the main source of color and brings the observing eye upward.
Tunic, long jersey cardi, jeggings, gray bootsI was attempting this effect with the boyfriend cardi in the very first look, but it failed. This extremely long duster both covers the edges of my hips and limits the amount of tunic that can be seen. I look more narrow than wide in this combination of pieces, even though there is high contrast between tunic and jeggings.
I bought this tunic because I loved it, and I wanted to put some effort into styling it before giving up. Are all of these looks 100% awesome? No. But now that I’ve done my best to make the tunic work, I feel more comfortable making a decision about keeping or ditching it. Buying clothing that fights my figure and creates stylistic puzzles is not best practice … but sometimes a piece comes home that looks amazing in the dressing room and less so in real life. And when that happens, I’ll often spend some time playing with styling to see if it can be MADE to work.
And if not, off to a new home it goes.
Do you experiment with closet misfits before sending them packing? Or are you more likely to assume unflattering duds just aren’t worth your while? Which of these looks is your favorite?
{ 60 comments… read them below or add one }
They all work really nicely, Sal, so much so that it would be hard to pick a favorite.
I am with you, give 'em every chance in the book (the same for people).
But, stains, that's where I have to draw the line.
Uh , unless there is some use I can find for it? Washing the dog? Running? Cleaning the floors…
I like it better with the long skirt or the long sweater. It looks like a different piece.
I try not to buy things that don't flatter me but still sometimes end up with them. I cut apart a pink Liberty dress and combined it with a tank top to replace its unfortunate neck line. I also have some hand me downs from a friend that I'm still trying to figure out.
I'd disagree with your conclusion: the last outfit does look lovely. The rich purple colour, the beautiful boots…
I like the last two looks the best. The white on white and white on light gray are a little too Eileen Fisher. But the outfit with the denim skirt is cool.
I like the versions with the long eggplant cardi and the woven shawl. The details on that top are definitely worth the effort!
I love it with the aubergine cardi – last shot.
How does it look with just jeans and nothing underneath? Just curious.
I love the tunic's floaty look and would wear it in a NYM.
Is white in your palette? Is that why you like to pair it with stuff underneath.
Dumb question, because I do know how cold it is here right now.
Give it to me! I am hippy, but look GREAT in white.
[kidding]
Love how you think.
Oh dear! Just re-read and now I see that the tunic is gray.
That's a hard color to wear I've found. Do you think so?
I love these looks, especially the one with the gray skirt and the one with the duster. They both are interesting outfits and make you look tall and slender…and a little like a gypsy, and I loooooooove the gypsy look.
i love the last look, with the plum duster. it makes you look long and lean, that plum color is AMAZING on you, and you manage to bring back the duster! i havent seen someone wear one of those stylishly in quite some time!
My fav is the pic with the sweater coat. A sweater coat often allows you to wear shirts that you otherwise wouldn't. However, if I have something in my closet that I have to work at making work, I figure that I won't grab for it in the morning and out it goes.
The last look is a keeper – awesome!
I love this idea of making things work. I pretty much donate things that don't work, but I've stopped buying them too. But I do have a pretty little tunic that I sewed just after I had my baby that is now enormous now that I've lost my baby weight, but I still love it. Funny, because I did find that pairing it with a similar color toned long cardigan made it somehow not shlumpy.
I think the last look is my favorite. The fitted look of the cardigan on your arms and through your waist negate the hips, plus the color is fab on you!
I like it with the long grey skirt, and paired with the long purple cardi.
I love the outfits with the skirts – I really think those made the tunic work!
I love this tunic, especially the first look. I tried to find it on Tulle, but it was gone already (and now I'm addicted to Tulle, thanks!
) The first outfit made me subscribe to your blog immediately, and now I read you every day! I think it makes you look artsy, and it's very flattering.
Way to go, remixing this "difficult" piece. I have difficult pieces too, and I often hold onto them if I like them (and other more flattering pieces that I don't wear tend to get donated). I think that in addition to these awesome new outfits (I am also loving the long sweater the best, but the skirt is also rad), maybe more straighter legged pants for the original outfit?
I still hold on to what you've said about not worrying too much about figure flattery. I am long-waisted and I like low waisted styles, including dropped waist dresses! I think it's good advice not to get too hung up on fighting our figures all the time.
The only thing you haven't tried is to put it over another tunic, short dress or long tank that's just a LITTLE bit longer – the length, ideally, you'd like it to be – and either the same grey or a bit darker. That would be what I'd've tried first, actually, and I have a long, A-line top that hits exactly the same way, and only really looks nice over my A-line American Apparel tissue jersey dress.
Amazing! Gorgeous post.
I'm currently in the process of "making things work", too. I usually don't buy unflattering clothes, but I really like being able to mix & match my clothes. Which can be difficult in some cases, without tweaking them a little.
For example: I have a really cute cream colored button up shirt that I love. It is super comfy, the sleeves have tabs to keep them rolled up, has a cute mandarin collar and nice copper colored buttons. It is fine over jeans and a shirt, but it is just the wrong length to wear with most of my dresses or skirts (it is quite long, and also loose-fitting, so I end up having no shape at all). However, I just bought a really adorable belt that I'm going to try with it! I also plan on using the same belt to hike up a really long skirt that I bought recently, because my boyfriend thought it was adorable… it is cute, but a bad length for me (lower-mid shin length). It is exactly one of those "cute but unflattering" things I never usually would have bought, if not for his insistence.
I like the look with the long skirt and with the purple duster (and it looks totally different in both places).
I will usually try to make something work. Especially thrifted items–if it is cheap I figure I can afford to take a chance that it will look great with *something* in my closet. Then if I can't make it work I hide it in my give-away bag so I am not tempted to keep trying…
I actually really love this tunic with a skirt on you!
I try not to purchase pieces that I know won't be flattering on me unless I have a specific use for them in mind. Of course, when one gains a bit of weight, things that used to be flattering sometimes aren't and that gets the creative juices flowing again.
I like the tunic on you. I don't notice big hips in the pictures… if I may say so, it does make your chest look more pronounced! Especially with a belt. Enboobening, as you would say.
I feel that tunics are often better suited for people who have hips… I'm a stick figure and tunics just look like a sack on me. So rock it, Sal!
I really love the last one, with the purple duster! As for me? I hold on to things even when they don't flatter me IF they inspire me or make me happy.
I'd love to be able to give my two cents on the tunic Sally, especially since you love the piece. It's hard to see what it does to your shape with the angled pictures though. In the first picture, you are positioned straight on and that’s great. But in the other pictures, your hips have moved to an angle so the comparison is tricky.
But yay for white jeans!!! And I like your tenacity
For me, it's more a matter of how long something sits unworn in my closet–despite my love for it– that determines whether it gets kept. Often, that unworn status means the item is unflattering–& that's why I'm not wearing it in the first place. & yes, they go off to friends or the charity shop!
I like the outfit with the long skirt and the purple duster. I think with both, the extended lines created by the other pieces in the outfit counteract the tunic's possible horizontal emphasis.
If I've gone to the trouble of picking out an item, bringing it home, making it part of my wardrobe, it has to work for that privilege. I'll do everything I can to find a way to make an uncooperative item look flattering.
I like it in the last picture with the purple duster. The others are looking too lunch-lady smock for me. Sorry.
As for keeping things and trying to make them work vs. donating and moving on…I will give things a second chance, but there comes a point when the utility of an item just doesn't warrant keeping it around. If its role is too specific, I don't need it taking up space in my closet. I think the last outfit is nice, but I'm not sure it would look very different with a regular grey tee. KWIM?
i seriously stopped buying unflattering/uncomfortable clothes about 20 years ago. it's a decision i never regretted.
i have limited space and funds, so i decided to go with a small wardrobe of highly edited pieces – limited color palette, all comfy, all flattering. with the color limits it all goes together, so i get a LOT more outfits this way than if i had a bunch of clothes that can only be worn one way (because i'm having to compensate for that fact that each piece really doesn't look that great on me to begin with).
i loooooove clothes and my style is a little more …. erm …. 'eccentric' ….. so i thought this strategy would feel limiting, what with having fewer clothes and all. but because each piece can be worn so many different ways i've ended up feeling like i have a lot MORE clothes than before. i'd encourage anyone to give it a try.
plus, now i have people telling me 'but you can wear anything!!' (rolls eyes – you aren't with me in the dressing room!).
i vote for the last outfit with the duster. that eggplant is beautiful on you. great post and interesting idea! and thanks for giving me an excuse for a ride on my hobbyhorse : ) steph
Well, I'd just like to toss a vote in the ring for "what's wrong with your hips?" because I thought you looked great the first time. But of course that judgment is entirely up to you.
Recently I have been looking at my clothes much more critically and getting rid of some things that never really fit or flattered me — just covered me. It's been liberating (though now my wardrobe is extremely minimal.) I haven't thought about trying to remix those pieces, though. Hmmm.
angie: Ahhh, point taken. I specifically posed in the exact same way for all the new outfits so you could see how they compared to one another. Since I almost never face the camera head-on, it's instinct to tilt.
I love all the outfits. Even the first one. But I can understand where you're coming from with the length.
My biggest issue is a dress or shirt with puff/pointed sleeves. I'm all the time removing sleeves and shoulder pads. It took me awhile to realize that I should alter clothing before giving it up. Now I have many more items i love simply by taking out a sleeve.
To be honest, I think the only outfit where the tunic really adds something is the one with the duster. In the other outfits, I think most of them would look better without it.
I do get rid of things that don't flatter me. They otherwise just take up room in my closet, and they also take up time I don't have, because every time I try to get dressed in one of these items, I end up changing again, which makes me run late.
I prefer the last look with the long purple cardi.
I usually try them on with different items and WEAR IT at least once before they are sent away.
Now, with the blog and photographing… well I have proof of why it was sent on to a better home
Also I think that if you have to work THAT hard to make it work it's not meant to stay. The idea is for it to be effortless.
I actually really love the tunic over the red tee and blue skirt. I even think it could look good with a short sleeve tee in a pretty color over the same skirt (maybe a green shirt?)
I would also pin a sparkly brooch onto one of the straps of the tunic – but I'm wild like that
I think my favorite is the "western" look, with the belt, denim skirt, and boots.
Such a fun experiment!
You are so clever! I would definitely have dumped the item long ago. I like the long sweater version the best. Then the longer skirt version. It was kind of suprising to see you in monchromatic cothing–not your usual! The color is good too.
I am all about MAKING things work, especially since I know how to sew and can tweak things to flatter my figure better. I think the last one is my favorite, I love the long tunic with the long cardigan – it's something I never would have thought of but love!
My favorite is the last look with the long duster as well!
I have a pair of flat, midcalf boots that visually cut my legs in half. They look much better though,since I started wearing them with brick red tights. The red is actually fairly close in tone to the leather color, so it extends the height of the boots. I also swapped the laces for plaid ribbon, because if you can't fix it-DISTRACT THEM!
That tunic looks pretty hemmable. Why not just shorten it a bit?
ill definitely try my best to make something work.
you wear shorts, don't you? i'd like to see the tunic with shorts that extend just below the hem, paired with a colorful cardigan and some sort of wedge sandal…
The very last outfit with the long duster looks fantastic over the tunic! It's such a flattering mulberry shade for you, too.
Usually I try to alter items from my closet that are this-close to working. Case in point, last summer I bought two gorgeously-printed lightweight silk-cotton tops that button down the front and have little lightly-puffed sleeves with a knife-pleated bib front. Now, I have broad shoulders and a big bust, so those little sleeves, combined with the pleated bib just made me look like a linebacker. But I love the fabric and the prints and the colors so much, that I wanted to salvage the tops somehow. So I cut off the sleeves at the shoulder seam, turned under the serged edge and stitched it in place. This gives a nice sleeveless look, with a collar effect because the pleating of the bib front extends over the shoulder and to the back. It looks much sleeker, while still being nice and airy, and doesn't emphasize my shoulders. Since the first one worked so well, I'm going to do the same with the remaining top. Other attempts haven't been so successful, but I'm willing to experiment in this way since I can sew.
SO glad you didn't get rid of the tunic! I absolute adore it with the jean skirt and the long jersey cardi!!!
Creative minds should never get rid of a piece of clothing until we've tried it all!
<3 KP
http://fashionmommaintraining.blogspot.com
interesting outfits!!!!!!
http://renatsan.blogspot.com/
Seriously, Sally, you're a rock star. I'm actually a big fan of the tunic with the skirts…what an interesting play with proportion! – E.
LOVE the all-white look! The long purple cardi look is also pretty classy.
Good save!
Since the drawstring highlights your chest and waist I think the versions where we see the drawstring, as opposed to layering something over it works very well.
I feel like the fitted pants/top keep you out of that dangerous "Eileen Fisher" territory, so I like the tonal outfit.
Hmmm. No, normally I'd not give a piece that many tries before ditching it. But the wide range of things you tried is inspiring, and I may have to do that. Where I generally draw the line is at discomfort — if something doesn't fit quite right and I'm either aware of it all day or fussing with it, I get rid of it.
I disagree that the tunic doesn't work for you!! I think it works great, especially with the jeans and boots.
Sally, you look fabulous! I especially love the #2 and #4 styles. Way to give it another go!
Keep it, definitely. Like the last two, especially the final one. Great rework.
Glad you held onto it and experimented. I think it looks great on you. My favorites are the low contrast looks. Nicely done. xo
Sal, you are ah-MAH-zing! Such an inspiration to me and I'm so glad I came across your blog a few months ago. As with a lot of other commentators, the last outfit is stunning and that colour on you, fantastic. However I believe the other outfits are pretty awesome too, with the denim skirt combo coming in a close second. But I think the whole point is that you took something that you thought wasn't working and used a little (actually, make that a LOT) creativity and skill to create some fab new outfits. A lesson I'm certainly taking on board. Thanks again, and sending you big hugs from Australia!
Belinda
xxx
I like all of the four outfits. My favorites are the first and last one. They both give you the look of a tall woman which really suits you.
I think the white monochrome and the one with the long jersey skirt work best… this was totally inspiring, because I would have thrown up my hands in despair and ditched that tunic after the first no go. Thanks!
I think it looks nice in ALL of those photos. And I don't think you need to worry about minimizing or not emphasizing your hips! Curves are sexy and you have a lovely figure. I don't see a problem and I would keep it!
I don't know how handy you are when it comes to alterations, but what about taking a cute fabric and adding a couple inches of it to the bottom of the tunic? It would add some visual interest as well as extending the length.
FIrst off, I don't think the tunic is unflattering, even in your first pic with te grey leggings and shorter cardigan. I really like it over the white jeans and long grey skirt, though. And it looks like there are ties to ruche up the sides – why not try that over a pencil skirt for a peplum effect, that will hit higher on your hip?
hi Sal, thanks for showing us your thought process at work via the outfit photos plus comments.I found the steps really interesting. Would you care to give us some more outfit-building posts with step by step photos, including epecially the dead-ends and the detours? I learn just as much from what you reject as from what you approve in your combinations.
What if you added a band of fabric in a contrasting color (or pattern) to the bottom of the tunic? It would hit somewhat lower and away from the troublesome hip area. You've styled it here in lots of lovely ways, but making the tunic longer might make you feel more comfortable wearing it.
I think the second (long gray skirt) and fourth (purple duster) outfits are the ones that best counteract the effect of the tunic (though I think you're making the tunic out to be more unflattering than it actually is). And I'm with you; I'll try every possibility to make something work if I like it well enough. I believe having challenging items is a great skill builder.