A Cocktail Dress For Every Body Type
One of the most versatile dresses that was ever designed for wear on special occasions is the cocktail dress.
While the events for which cocktail dresses are worn are usually late afternoon or early evening affairs
that are too casual to be called black-tie events, many cocktail dresses can now be worn elsewhere, depending on the cut and the material of the dress and the accessories worn with it.
To wear a cocktail dress to a more formal event, all you need to do is to accessorize accordingly, perhaps
wear more flashy pieces of jewelry and heavier makeup. If you need to wear something dressy to the office
for any reason other than the usual skirt or pantsuit, you can wear a cocktail dress that is not too flashy
and just throw on a blazer and slip into sensible office shoes. Many current styles of cocktail dresses are
no longer limited to being party wear anymore.
Choosing what style of cocktail dress to wear, however, can be very tricky for most women. After all, only
a few women could claim to have truly perfect bodies, and most women who do not fall into the
supermodel category prefer to hide the flaws of their figures. Wearing a one-piece dress such as a cocktail
dress can easily reveal those flaws if the dress does not fit the wearer’s body type.
In picking out the right cocktail dress to wear, a woman should always consider her body type - whether
she is top-heavy or bottom-heavy – and find something that will balance out her figure. If she is bottom-
heavy, her aim should be to draw attention to the upper part of her body and to her face. If she is top-
heavy, she has the option either to emphasize her cleavage or to wear something that will pull the eyes to
her legs.
What kind of cocktail dress would suit a woman with a bottom-heavy figure? As said above, a woman
with a bottom-heavy figure would want to hide the thickness around her hips and thighs. A good cocktail
dress for her to wear would be a dress that fits closely around the waist but without the seams pushed out
by extra padding around the abdomen and has a skirt that flares out around the hips and thighs. A
cocktail dress with a full skirt would be perfect for a woman with a bottom-heavy figure because it will
definitely hide whatever flabbiness and bulges that she wishes not to be seen around her lower body.
Another option available for a woman with a bottom-heavy figure is a cocktail dress that sports an
empire-style waistline. A cocktail dress with an empire-style waistline has the waist placed higher, thereby
pulling the eyes towards the shoulders, the neck and the face. It also drapes and skims over the lower
body.
And yet another choice open for a woman with a bottom-heavy figure is a cocktail dress that is either
sleeveless or strapless, also with a flaring skirt. Again, baring the arms and the shoulders is effective in
drawing attention away from the hips.
As for women with top-heavy figures, she could either emphasize her cleavage or her legs, as mentioned
above. If she wants to put focus on her legs rather than her cleavage, she can wear a cocktail dress with a
solid-colored top paired with a patterned skirt. She can hike the hem of her skirt up to make it shorter and
really draw the eyes to her legs.
If she wants to attract attention to her ample cleavage rather than her legs, she can cover up her legs in a
long-skirted cocktail dress but reveal a little skin on her upper body with a low V-neck or plunging neckline.
In fact, she can draw the eyes to both her top and her legs by wearing a short cocktail dress with a low
neckline if she wants to. What she should not do is to wear a cocktail dress with an overly busy top
because it will make her upper body appear larger and skew the balance of her figure.
Accessories also help to keep the illusion of balance on a woman’s figure aside from wearing the right kind
of cocktail dress. Bottom-heavy women can wear flashy earrings, necklaces or chokers, while top-heavy
women can forego the necklace and opt for a bracelet instead. However, she should buy her cocktail dress
first before figuring out what accessories, bag and shoes to wear.
Cocktail dresses are versatile dresses that can be worn on any occasion that requires some degree of
formality without being a full black-tie event. A woman should be able to choose the right cocktail dress
that can really flatter her body type, which is easy to do at Scarlet Tangerine. Please visit our store at
http://stores.ebay.com/Dresses-by-Scarlet-Tangerine or follow us on Twitter @ScarletTngerine.
