Welcome back to The Velvet Runway and this post about “Breaking Fashion Rules“. As a midlife stylist it may be assumed that by now I would be “playing by the rules”, but as anyone who knows me will tell you, in my book “fashion rules” are meant to be broken or at the very least adapted.

And the two “fashion rules” I am happily breaking today are about wearing skirts above the knee after the age of 40 and wearing horizontal stripes if you are not stick insect thin! In my opinion, both these rules are made to be broken!

Outfit of the day : Breaking fashion rules

Firstly, at my age, I shouldn’t be wearing skirts above the knee, but , I believe that skirt length does not depend on your age, but rather your body shape, the occasion and how you style it.

My second fashion “faux pas” is wearing horizontal stripes – surely I am too short/ not thin enough for horizontal stripes? Well, I admit that I am not particularly tall and definitely not thin, but I rather like the stripes and I personally believe that the style of the dress and your overall body shape have a big impact on the overall effect.

Breaking fashion rules

Thirdly, we are often told that we should never have long hair once we hit the big 4-0! Well, I could (and probably will) write another post just on this. For me, it’s a bit like skirt length – you should adopt a hair style (cut/colour/length) you are comfortable with.  A bit like skirts and body shape, your hair style should compliment your face shape, and also your personality and life-style.

For more pictures and a comparison of horizontal stripes, read on.

Breaking fashion rules
Breaking fashion rules

Breaking fashion rules

So, for years, it has been commonly believed that vertical stripes are more flattering and that horizontal stripes tend to make you look fatter. But, according to a study by Dr Peter Thompson of the University of York  (see here), horizontal stripes are in fact more slimming!

When people compared pictures of women wearing horizontally and vertically striped dresses, the majority found that when the two women were the same size, the one wearing the horizontal-striped dress appeared to be the thinner of the two. 

However, all horizontal stripes are not created equal. It was found that narrow black stripes on a white background were most flattering — ideally when there was about 10   per cent black to 90   per cent white.

Breaking fashion rules

However, whilst it appears that I have inadvertently correctly chosen narrow black stripes, I think the reality is a bit more complicated and that the overall body shape, as well as the style of the dress all have a role to play!

I hope you enjoyed this feature about Breaking Fashion Rules, and have a look here for more of our style features.