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On Styling a Stomach: To Tuck Or Not To Tuck

Alison @ Wardrobe Oxygen by Alison @ Wardrobe Oxygen
4 years ago
- Last edited by: Mayra Mejia -
Reading Time: 10 mins read
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tucking in a top when you have a belly
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This post was originally posted onย Wardrobe Oxygen.

Since childhood, these style rules have been ingrained in us. These rules (like the best ways to go about styling a stomach) are geared towards making our bodies appear slimmer and longer with curves only in the places deemed by society to be acceptable, and those acceptable locations keep shifting.

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styling a stomach

One decade itโ€™s hips and breasts, another decade itโ€™s just the rear, another decade and not a single curve is acceptable. Itโ€™s harder to keep up with than eyebrow trends. And like eyebrow trends, we often look back at photos of our past selves with regret.

Women have been lied to all their lives. Wear dark colors and youโ€™ll look slimmer. Horizontal stripes make you look wider. Bootcut pants will balance big shoulders and make you look more proportional. Untucked tops will balance a short torso and will also hide a round belly.

styling a stomach
Image via @MediocreFatty

So We ask Ourselves, How Do We Go About Styling A Stomach?

Some style rules can distract or emphasize, but no wrap dress or even pair of Spanx will give you a different body. Take a stroll through your Facebook timeline or flip through a family album. Heck, even use Google Images to search a public figure and a single year (so itโ€™s a similar size and age) and scroll through images of that person.

What stands out? Is it how trim they look in that black dress versus the green one? Is it how proportional their body looks with that top that hits exactly at the perfect place on their hip? Is it how their shoulders look much more narrow in that photo wearing bootcut jeans than the one where they resemble a linebacker in the same top styled with skinny jeans?ย 

I am betting itโ€™s none of that.ย 

What stands out is color, is cool details and silhouettes, fun prints, and more than that, itโ€™s a smile.ย 

Happiness and confidence are more flattering than any fashion rule-following garment.

On Styling A Stomach: Octavia Spencerโ€™s Figure-Flattering Style Uniform

styling a stomach
I shared so many photos of Octavia Spencer in her 2019 Oscar gown because it shows how a garment and a body can look different from different angles and in different lighting.

I adore Octavia Spencer. She is a talented dramatic and comedic actress who has earned many well-deserved awards. She is an activist, a producer, even a childrenโ€™s book author. Octavia Spencer is 47 years old, 5โ€™2โ€ณ, and has a shape that likely many of you can relate to.

For the 2019 Oscars, she wore a sparkly blue gown by Christian Siriano. This is a traditionally โ€œflatteringโ€ fit, and flare silhouette paired with off-the-shoulder detail creates an hourglass effect. The column of color keeps the eye moving, and the sleeves drape to strategically hide the widest part of a womanโ€™s upper arm.ย ย 

styling a stomach
Octavia in below the knee to full-length fit and flare dresses

Octavia, like many of us, finds a silhouette she feels good in and sticks to it. She wears the fit and flare silhouette in various lengths for both red carpet and more casual events, especially when she knows she will have to sit down at some point.

styling a stomach
Three of Spencerโ€™s favorite style uniforms: fitted dress with blazer, skinny pants and untucked top with longer blazer, peplum top with straight skirt that ends at the knees.

Spencer has a few silhouettes she repeatedly wears that tick off the style rule boxes for figure flattery โ€“ longer jackets over untucked tops with skinny pants or jeans to hide curves, blazers cut to nip in at the waist over fitted but strategically gathered and shirred dark-colored dresses to make the figure recede. A peplum top with a knee-length straight skirt or cigarette pants creates an hourglass shape and camouflages the stomach.

Searching for these images, I often found them associated with articles on how to dress in a โ€œflatteringโ€ way when youโ€™re โ€œheavyโ€ or โ€œbiggerโ€ in a certain part of the body or providing tips on how to โ€œlook five pounds thinner.โ€

styling a stomach
Breaking the style uniform: Spencer in a buttoned-up suit, breaking the โ€œcolumn of colorโ€, and wearing a tucked in top with a full skirt.

But when searching for images of her style in the past year or two, I found the occasional outfit where she broke those style rules, and the results are quiteโ€ฆ dare I sayย flattering?

She wears a suit with the jacket closed instead of open over an untucked top. She doesnโ€™t employ a column of dark color but instead breaks up the line of her body. And she wears a fitted top tucked into a skirtโ€ฆ a look very similar toย the outfit I wore yesterday.

The outfit I wore yesterday received many emails, comments, and DMs asking how to wear such an outfit when you donโ€™t have a defined waist when you have a belly when youโ€™re short.

The concept of a tucked-in top with such a figure goes against every single rule, yet Octavia Spencer shows it can look greatโ€ฆ even when paired with rule-breaking horizontal stripes.

On Styling A Stomach: The Tummy Torture.

Our stomachs are the body part most quickly affected by hormones, diet, sleep, illness, injury, posture, and pregnancy. We have babies; we lose babies, we go through menopause, we go through hysterectomies, we gain weight, we lose weight, we have a fitness routine, and then we get injured, we have undiagnosed allergies and illnesses that cause bloating and digestive problems.

Who cares about our neck, dear Nora Ephron, we feel bad about our stomach, and it rarely has to do with age or even size. We suck it in with control garments, we hide it under tunics and shift dresses, we choose colors that we hope will make it disappear and even change our posture to hide it.

styling a stomach
Spencer in full skirts with tucked-in tops and blouses.

The way to look stylish is not to try to hide but work with what you have. And you have a waist, but it isnโ€™t necessarily where your belly button lies. Look at the four looks Octavia Spencer is wearing above.

Instead of trying to achieve a waist near her navel, she highlights at her ribcage, which is where she goes in and where she can define space between her bust and her midsection.

No, these looks donโ€™t make her look five pounds younger or five inches taller, but you canโ€™t say she looks bad in them. In fact, the switch up from her uniform is refreshing and fun. Youโ€™re not noticing her stomach; youโ€™re noticing the whole beautiful package.

Style Challenge โ€“ Try Tucking It In!

styling a stomach
Image via @samanthaharris.co

I challenge those of you who donโ€™t tuck in tops to try it this month and see how it feels. Start off slow with one of these methods:

  • Try knotting a t-shirt.ย This could be in the center or off to the side. If you go toย my Instagram account, youโ€™ll see circles at the top, and one is titled โ€œT-shirt Knot.โ€ I share how I tie my shirts in a more streamlined fashion. You can try this alone or do it under a jacket or blazer.
  • Try the French Tuck.ย Also known as the half-tuck, itโ€™s a trend that has been around for a while butย became extra popular thanks to Tan France. this is where you tuck in 2-3โ€ in the front and leave the rest untucked, so only a portion of your lower half is exposed. Some prefer this tucking right in the center. Some like it better when tucked in off to the side, so play with it and see what feels and looks right on you. A high-low hem tunic is a great gateway garment into half tucking as itโ€™s easy to tuck the front part to the side slits and leave the back untucked.
  • Tuck in a fitted top into wide-leg pants or a skirt with volume.ย Instead of using a long top to cover your midsection, try a looser bottom that doesnโ€™t cling to your lower half. If youโ€™re looking for wide-leg pants to do this with, go with a high waist that will start above your tummy, therefore not segmenting it at the waistband. I recommend either a stiff denim that works a bit like a corset or going in the opposite direction with a lightweight non-stretchy fabric with a drape. I write this while wearingย my glen plaid wide-leg trousers from Universal Standard,ย which do a great job of skimming the midsection and rear without looking dumpy or ill-fitting.

styling a stomach
Strategic cropping: The unedited version of a photo used inย yesterdayโ€™s blog postย showing my midsection

Donโ€™t Compare Your Everyday To Anotherโ€™s Highlight Reel!

For yesterdayโ€™s photoshoot, like most photoshoots we have for the blog, my husband took literally hundreds of photos. And like most photoshoots, I deleted 90% of them. Some, because I had a weird face. Some, because they were blurry because I was moving.

But a lot of them? It was because of my stomach. This is my site, and I get to control the narrative. I am not ashamed of my stomach, but Iโ€™d rather choose the photos where I feel the most comfortable, and I think they best showcase both me and the clothing.

I have soft curves like many of you, and an outfit like yesterdayโ€™s doesnโ€™t camouflage my midsection or make it look smaller than it is. A photo is taking a second in time and making it last forever.ย 

While my stomach was more prominent in some photos, itโ€™s not as obvious when I am a moving, laughing, sitting, hugging, chatting person.ย  While you may not take hundreds of photos of yourself, you do a similar thing when gauging your appearance by your reflection in the mirror.ย 

You are usually still, and after years of helping women get dressed, Iโ€™m guessing you have a certain pose you do in front of the mirror that you never recreate in real life.ย 

Your belly is not as important as you think it is, and wearing what makes you happy will make you look a hundred times better than any fashion rule.ย 

What are your thoughts about your stomach? How do you typically go about styling your stomach? Is it something you take into consideration when choosing your outfits?

Tags: apple shapeWardrobe Oxygen
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Alison @ Wardrobe Oxygen

Alison @ Wardrobe Oxygen

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Comments 5

  1. Beth says:
    3 years ago

    Like

    Reply
  2. Nora says:
    3 years ago

    Excellent article. Thank you for using great photos of Octavia Spencer. Sheโ€™s looks fabulous and gives me many ideas.

    Reply
  3. Cheryl Herbert says:
    3 years ago

    Finally someone who really understands what it is like to be a women with a belly!

    Reply
  4. Rebecca says:
    2 years ago

    Great post. For me itโ€™s tough because Iโ€™ve never really had curves: I have one curve and itโ€™s my belly and I canโ€™t go 3 months without someone in my life congratulating me on being pregnant again.
    Iโ€™m not. I wonโ€™t ever be. And every time it hurts.
    But my plan to hide in flowy black tops and leggings that show off my pretty great legs isnโ€™t working either. Maybe time to try some embracing of fun.

    Reply
    • Marie Denee says:
      2 years ago

      Do It! Give it aa whirl and let me know what you have discovered about yourself!

      Reply

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