You can use colors to your advantage in other ways too. The single best use of color for a slimming effect is dressing from top to toe in one dark hue – like navy, brown or black. Did you ever wonder why school buses are yellow? It’s because that color is so eye catching. Dress up any body part you want to accentuate with brights like yellow, orange or hot pink while wearing dark colors on areas you want to draw the eye from; dark colors recede.

Have a nice, long neckline, but your hips are wider than you’d like them to be? Pair a canary V-neck tee with dark blue jeans.

Proud of your shapely shoulders and lean legs but think you’re top heavy? Wear a high-necked black halter to show off your shoulders – while minimizing your chest – with a fuchsia mini to accentuate your gorgeous legs.

Always be creative

Other tips for dressing slim:

• Opt for small patterns instead of larger ones and avoid wearing prints or patterns on top and bottom – that visually adds 10 pounds!
• Wear wide leg pants You may think that wide leg pants make you look bigger than what you are. In fact, the wide leg style creates a nice straight line and also the illusion of longer legs. This makes you look taller. If you are interested in something other than traditional wide leg pants, cuffed leg is the right one to go for. If you are under 5'5 avoid cuffed pants because they make short legs look shorter.
• Get rid of anything you own that’s pleated – or at least relegate these clothes to gardening/painting/fishing pants. We women – most of us – have the typical hourglass figure with hips larger than our waists. When wearing pleated pants to fit our waists, the pleats splay out over our hips, creating extra space and making our lower abdomens appear larger than they actually are.
• Pointed toe shoes make you look slim. Whether they are flats or heels, they allow the length of your pant to flow into a point. Rounded toe shoes cut off the line and make your legs look stumpy.
• If you wear a jacket, make sure it’s fitted. A boxy jacket makes for a bulky you.
  
• An “oldie but goodie” slimming rule is dressing in vertical stripes. Thin, vertical lines on jackets, shirts, pants, dresses and skirts creates the illusion of a longer, leaner you.
  
• Beware the blue jeans. Wearing them high, accentuating your tiny waist, may be less than flattering from behind because the higher your wear them, the bigger your butt looks. Try to find a pair that sits relatively low on the waist – they don’t have to be Britney Spears-low – but the waistband should not be too far above the bellybutton. And skip the peg or tapered leg look. Instead go with a straight leg or boot cut, which will elongate the legs and keep your hips in proportion.

Take advantage of what you were given naturally and what you’ve worked so hard for. Dress to play it up. When you see your reflection, it’ll make you smile and keep you motivated.