How to Look Taller Part 3 – Pants

Just like your shirts, your pants must fit well in order to look taller.  Above and beyond anything else that you will get out of the How to Look Taller section of the Grow Taller Blog, remember that one thing: your clothes must fit well.

Pants should be long and narrow (but not overly skinny) to give you a leaner, taller look.  The waistband should rest at your hips, which will add the illusion of length.  Never, ever wear your pants so that the waistband is too high.  Conversely, you should avoid wearing extremely low-rise pants and jeans as well, in spite of what may be fashionable at the moment.  These types of jeans can make your legs appear 2 inches shorter or even more.

Make sure that your pants don’t balloon out around your hips.  This can happen from having pockets that are too full or having too much shirt tucked in (tailoring can almost always fix that problem).  This look will give you the wider (side-to-side) look that you are avoiding like the plague.

Dress pants should break on your shoes just a hair more than that of average.  This will ensure that your legs will look longer.  Another consideration for dress pants is to avoid cuffs, which break up the form of your legs, making them appear shorter.  If your pants must have cuffs, have them altered to be smaller – about 1 ¼ inch should be fine.  Never, ever wear multiple-pleated pants and always opt for flat fronts – pleats are for school girl outfits and NOT men’s pants.

Back to jeans: bootcut jeans are favored at the moment and go a long way in accentuating a longer physique than many other jean styles so it’s a safe bet to stick with them.  Baggy jeans will always make you appear shorter, disheveled, and downright classless.  Just like your dress pants, jeans should have a break in them, though it should never be too pronounced.  In the event that it is, have them tailored as well (yes, people do have their jeans tailored).  Your jeans should break slightly, but make sure that they do, indeed, break.  If not, your jeans could look too short for you when you walk or just stand.  A break that is too low gives the appearance that your jeans are too large.  Also, make sure that the break doesn’t cover your shoes too much, which can also look unsightly.

In addition to tailoring, pants can actually be custom-made as well.  While this option is more expensive, you may actually find that having pants custom-made by a tailor can actually cost less than high-end pants that you may find in department stores.  Your mileage with this may vary when you start getting into different materials and the time needed for the tailor to complete the job.

How to Look Taller Part 2 – Shirts

When dressing for height, a proper fit is the key to success.  Your clothes should fit as flawlessly as possible. 

Looser, baggy clothes can you make you look disheveled and stumpy.  Your clothes should never be ill-fitting or baggy because you want to create the “up-and-down” line with as little interruption as possible.  This effect goes a long way to creating a lengthy form.

One other problem that baggy clothes presents for someone that wants to learn how to look taller is that it gives the illusion that you are swimming in your clothes or as if the clothes were borrowed from an older brother or an uncle.  This perpetuates an unconscious image of a “little boy” – an image that is so often firmly set in the heads of people (particularly women) when they think of shorter men.  

On the other hand, you also want to avoid clothes that are too tight as well.  When in doubt, the best fit is the proper fit.  Always go for a well-tailored look.  Monochromatic colors and/or virtual stripes and detailing always serve to accentuate your height.  Thin stripes, interesting buttons, contrasting ties, and visible seams all help as well.  Avoid any graphics or prints that are overwhelmingly bold and intense.  These ring especially true for T-shirts and emblazoned pants and jeans.  It’s true that these types of detailing may draw more attention to you, but it’s very likely that the overall effect of that attention will not be what you are looking for.  An impeccable and dashing style will get you noticed as well – but instead of an overpowering, overbearing, loud statement, you will be making a statement of refinement and class.

Always look for shirts that are tailored well for your form and that won’t leave excess fabric when you tuck them in.  Opt for collars that are pointed instead of ones that are spread.  Shirts that are hemmed to rest only an inch or two below the waistline of your pants work particularly well.  If they are any longer, tuck them in to avoid giving the appearance of short legs.  Button-front dress shirts should almost always be tucked in for this exact reason, but not always.  Many modern-styles of button-front “dress” shirts are specifically made to be left untucked the majority of the time.  These can serve to your advantage as well, since sometimes a tucked shirt can place an exaggerated emphasis on your legs and torso, which can also make you appear shorter than you are.  If you’re not familiar with the differences of these types of button-front shirt, then it never hurts to ask a knowledgeable store clerk.

Always keep in mind that a tailor can alter the hem length of shirts in addition to the length of the sleeves for a better fit, but shortening the length of the shirt is generally an easier task than reducing the length of the sleeves.  To make the process of tailoring as easy as possible, make sure the shirt fits properly around your shoulders and body first and foremost.  If it does, then you can concentrate on altering the sleeves and the length.

No shirts should be baggy.  It was the trend in the 1990’s to wear baggy shirts and/or sweaters but that style is now long gone.  The most preferred fit for form-elongation is a more European-inspired trim fit that feature higher arm holes and a slimmer body.  As said before, it’s more important to find a shirt that fits your body so that the length and sleeves can be altered than to find a shirt off-the-rack that fits perfectly.
One perfect look is an open, pointed-collar shirt that will accentuate and elongate your neck and face. 

V-neck t-shirts and sweaters also accomplish this as well so if you’ve never considered them, you may want to give them a try.  They help make your torso appear longer and your body look more svelte overall.  On the other hand, turtlenecks and even mock turtlenecks can make you appear more more “stumpy”, as they conceal your neck.  Frigid winters aside, you may want to forego those kinds of sweaters and shirts whenever it’s possible to do so.

While you already know to avoid horizontal stripes, you need to also stay away from checkered-pattern shirts and plaid shirts.  Let the lumberjacks enjoy their fashion statement.  Dark, monochromatic colors will make you taller.  Always avoid “breaking” your frame from top to bottom with contrasting colors.  Think “dark colors, light fabrics” as a general rule and you’re three steps ahead of the game.

You will likely be quite surprised at what looks you can achieve from otherwise ill-fitting or unflattering shirts when you get them tailored.  Tailoring isn’t as expensive as you may think and the improved appearance that you can reap from it is enormous.

Why You Need to Learn How to Grow Taller in 2011

Sometimes we spend so much time learning how to grow taller in our pursuits to increase our height that the underlying, core reasons why we have the goal to increase our height can be shuffled around in the mix.

Height – in this day and age – is at a premium. It is true, that in a “perfect world” a person’s height would have absolutely no impact on their social, romantic, or professional standing in any way, shape, or form – just as their race, nationality, or gender would.

However, that is not the case. Yes, it’s sad but it’s also true.
The sad fact is that heightism is a very real phenomenon in which a person is unfairly judged by their height, more often than not in a negative way.

Heightism seems to strike in the workplace more commonly now than ever before. That, or it is finally just now getting at least a fraction of the attention that it deserves.

It is no secret that taller people tend to be favored over shorter people in the hiring process, in the selection for promotions, and even when it comes time to be considered for a raise. One of the most startling aspects about this is that heightism can occur even when there is not another, taller candidate in competition for the job opportunity, promotion, or raise.

Heightism in a less concrete role takes place in the realm of social norms and relationships as well. A recent study of well over 1,000 women showed that a shocking majority of them favored men that had been convicted of felonies over men that stood under the United States national average of 5’9”.

Added to this the fact that shorter men tend to marry less (admittedly, this is likely a cause and effect relationship on at least some level), get divorced more, and have less children and the patterns that emerge are, while shocking, frustratingly predictable after a while.

That being said, learning how to grow taller, in and of itself, will not make you happier on its own. Sure, there is certainly something to be said for achieving your goal of increasing your height naturally and permanently, but height is not the only factor that will guarantee your successful life.

However, that being said, in a world that never plays by the rules almost no one would disagree that giving yourself the life that you want is immeasurably important and achieving the height that you want can go a long way in helping you lead the life you want.

As you are making your new year’s resolutions for 2011 and beyond, think about the life that you want to have for yourself. Just because you want to change something about yourself physically doesn’t make you narcissistic – not in the least. Just ask any one of the millions of people that make the resolutions to lose weight and get in better shape.