Phyllis Hyman: Accentuate The Body You Have

Happy New Year beautiful people! It's 2009 and it's time to stop looking like a sweltering, hot mess. I can't begin to stress how many people have said they won't do a CLOSET DETOX because they have to lose a few more pounds. But an even more egregious type of behavior is trying to conceal what's obvious. We can diminish a paunch with a billowy blouse or play-up an A-cup with chicken cutlets, but there are some things that can't be changed, so let's embrace them.

Phyllis Hyman, the late, underrated singer who left us too soon, understood this. At 6'2" in heels, she was no shrinking violet. In addition to her heels, she wore towering crowns, huge chandelier earrings, and was a friend to the plunging neckline. As a plus-size woman, she also understood the concept of scale. Her clothing and accessories were on a grand scale because she, herself, was larger than life. Dainty diamond studs and a tiny string of pearls would have been lost on this Amazonian diva. And a woman with a petite frame would be overwhelmed by the pieces Ms. Hyman was able to pull off.

Embrace your body now. Dress the body you have NOW! NOW! NOW! And dress it well. No excuses! New mommies, I know your bodies are changing. Weight fluctuation, different cup sizes, elastic-waist pants—you have it rough, because you got a new body practically overnight. But I continue to stress, don't put yourself or your style on the back burner. You buy your baby new clothes and give them several costume changes during the course of the day. You're still in your crummy sweatshirt from last week. Is that fair to you? Play up your new assets and if you want to get back to your original body, inject your wardrobe with some good transitional pieces.

If you think you're too short, too tall, too fat, or too skinny—get over it! Learn to play it up and as always, bring your A-game! Remember my story of the little girl with the fake toes? If she was bringing her A-game at age 8, there's no reason why you have all twenty of your digits and you're not bringing it at 30.

The New Muffin Top

Code red. Code red. There's a new trend emerging. The effects are just as devastating as the muffin top. But I think I'm able to trace this one back to its genesis. Several summers ago, when leggings hit their saturation point, long tunics were favored to be paired with them. Simultaneously, young women were wearing very short dresses with footless tights or very long shirts with tight pants. It depended on how it was styled and the body-type.

Of course the wearer wasn't always keen on pairing the tunic with leggings, so she utilized everything in her closet: jeans, skirts of varying lengths, and hosiery. The most egregious has been first of the bunch. Often the jeans were paired with a cropped jacket for some reason, so the area from the belly button to the cheeks look like one massive block of fabric. This horizontal section is egalitarian. It's universally unflattering, from a size 0 to a size 12 on up.

Ladies, let's terminate this fad before it goes any further. I'm certain low rise jeans have a lot to do with this. Women who outgrew their Britney jeans have held onto them tightly. Instead of buying jeans with longer inseams, they've simply lengthened their blouses. Also, a lot of us have waaaaaay too many cropped jackets. Let's step back a bit and do a closet analysis. Add some longer, more sophisticated blazers in the mix for some variety. The look is far more flattering because of the tailoring. Any bulge (and size zeros, you have it too, that's where you gain your weight), roll, or dimple is concealed by the streamlined construction of the jacket.

If you're going to do crop, do it the right way. It shouldn't be too high and make sure the bottom of the jacket isn't in a separate zip code from the bottom of your top. Pay close attention to any horizontal line in the waist and hip area. I'm not referring to stripes on a shirt. I mean the actual line created by the hem of your jackets and and shirts. Our midsection and lower midsection are the widest parts on most of our bodies. The new muffin top draws the eye directly to this area. Let's nip this in the bud before it reaches the pandemic proportions of the original muffin.