Dang it, I never look like the model! - YouLookFab Forum

Category

Dressing

Welcome! Read about what to wear and how to wear it on the YLF Blog. Join the YLF Forum to ask specific questions or just chat about fashion and personal style. Or check out the curated list of things we love in YLF Finds.

Outfits Ensembles Trends Advice

Dang it, I never look like the model!

ironkurtin

Veteran

It is a sad fact that I could buy every single item Gwyneth Paltrow or Barney's (or Angie for that matter) shows in a spread and still not look like the model does when dressed. My body proportions are different. I do not have endless legs. I do not get paid to be incredibly cut and skinny. I am not being captured by an expert photographer and then photoprocessed. I know this. But still... dang, WHY do I never look like the model?!

Dressing

70 replies

Latest reply was from Helena

milehighstyle (Linda)

Veteran

Because you are YOU - which is pretty awesome, in my opinion.

Alexandra

(website)

Veteran

Why would you want to? Do you not want to look like YOU?

Parsley

Veteran

I feel your pain!
That's how it is for most of us, isn't it?
But I have to say that you look pretty darn fabulous in all the things I see you in.

Ornella

(website)

Veteran

Why do you want to look like a model in the first place?

ironkurtin

Veteran

@Alexandra - I don't see why I can't look like me and still have my clothes fit in the same way as on the model. There's no disconnect between those ideas at all to my mind. That's like me saying, my chocolate cake doesn't taste like chocolate, and you saying, don't you want it to taste the way it tastes to you?

ironkurtin

Veteran

@Ornella - because they achieve an effortless combination of posture, cut and proportion.

catgirl

Veteran

Models are truly not representative of reality. I have seen Heidi Klum up close and personal and she does not even look human in terms of proportion.

san

Veteran

This really hits home the difference in how a model is built and how she will look in clothes as opposed to most of the population. This is why we can't order a whole outfit that a model is wearing, put it on, and look in the mirror and see the same outfit.
Alaskagirl, that is a very interesting observation about Heidi Klum.
IK, you look better than a model walking down the street in real life.

cciele

Veteran

Hm, seems like you answered your own question IK! You don't have the same proportions, so you're not going to have the clothes fit the same way...

K. Period.

Veteran

Dana, you are built like a model in a lot of ways. You are slim and an IT. You aren't a gazillion feet tall, that's true.

I just have to point out: even models don't really look like models most of the time. They look like themselves. The pictures we see are expertly photographed, carefully styled (with clothing adjusted behind the back so it fits just so or with a woman chosen for as the body to fill that particular item) and capturing a single moment in time. For every single photo you see, I'm confident there are hundreds, if not over a thousand, images that are shot to get that perfect moment. Even runways are just a few moments in time. No one really looks like models.

viva

Veteran

It's a conspiracy, it really is. We have to remind ourselves of what K said -- that so much of what we see isn't real. I've worked in retail and it bugged me to no end that they would constantly pin coats and sweaters and tops on the mannequins to get them to look just exactly right, which gives a completely wrong impression of how the material will actually hang. It's all smoke and mirrors. YOU, however, are real and look exactly the way you should!

always trying

Veteran

Yeh, who wants to look like a model even if you are about 6 ft tall and weigh 100 lbs. i could never survive on lettuce, and maybe for a big splurge have a light non fat yogurt.

Thistle

Veteran

Don't forget photoshop!

No one looks like the model, not even the model.

ironkurtin

Veteran

I have seen lots and lots of movie stars and models up close, and I know that sometimes they look really weird and scary skinny, and sometimes they look just really good. And I appreciate the compliments, ladies. However, I cannot be the only one who wishes they could look like the model does in a given outfit. To me it's not even the model's body, it's how the clothes fit ON the model's body. How do I get that combination of proportions right on my own frame? Given that each frame is different, and mine is different than any given models', even so - it s frustrating that this is out of reach.

So to paraphrase, I don't want to look like a model. I want my clothes to fit like the models' do. That is different.

kkards

Veteran

i hear you...it was always my dream to be at leat 5'8, because when i was young, i heard that models were at least that tall becuase then clothes looked the best. alas, i'm barely 5'4, but in my head...i'm tall and willowly. all it takes is a little imagination, and a good tailor.

Mo

(website)

Veteran

I think you need a really, really good tailor and an endless budget to tailor all your pieces to you if you want that perfect fit. Realistic? No. Possible? Yes.

Kim

Veteran

I know what you mean IK...I want the clothes to fit me as I see them (on the model, or the mannequin, whatever) since the visual is usually what attracted me to the clothing in the first place. It's hard to then take that vision and fit it to my body and be completely happy with the result, since in my mind the perfect look was the one I saw in the beginning...(and the pinning thing drives me nuts too, cause that's NOT how it really hangs or drapes even on the mannequin, but that's what my mind's eye thinks it's supposed to look like since I've seen it that way now.)

It's a work in progress, but I have to say that this website has been a huge help, since I see clothing on body shapes that more resemble my own and when I get that image in my head it's easier to be happy with the results, since it was closer to my own paradigm to start with.

Elsa

I am new to the forum - hello!

I share your frustration. I sometimes get a little bit fixated on a certain item (for example flat oxfords). I look at so many pictures for inspiration, but when I try to copy an outfit I am almost always disappointed in the way I look.

I do think though that sometimes it helps to consider the details very carefully. I found Angie's post from a while back on how to style flat oxfords REALLY helpful. If you want to achieve the same look as a model, but on your own unique figure, it might actually work better to do it a little differently than the picture (hems a little higher or lower, waist surrendered or cinched, etc).

All that said, I really do agree with everyone that fashion spreads depict unachievable images. And that can be a huge downer.

Janet

(website)

Veteran

Pardon the expletive in the link but I remembered this old link, which i have bookmarked:

http://inkdot.tumblr.com/post/7243925631/no-shit

K. Period.

Veteran

((shrug)) Tailoring or bespoken. That's pretty much it.

They choose models based on how they fill out the clothes. You are choosing clothes based on how you fill them out. The only way to change that to make things always perfect on you is to have the clothes made for or tailored to you.

You are clothes savvy. I know you'd never think honestly that you should be able to walk into any store and pick up any size (fillinblank) item and put it on and it would be perfect. That doesn't make sense on a macro scale because it wouldn't accommodate all the women out there who are the same size but aren't built like you. So why think that it should work honed down to the super micro version, which is ultra perfect fit and styling?

For every time that you're frustrated about this, think about all the women who dream of looking like you do in your clothes. Or of having your style. Besides, if it was easy? You'd be bored out of your skull and you'd be looking for something else to learn and perfect. You aren't a girl to rest on your laurels. You like a challenge.

ETA: Just read Janet's link. Awesome. Exactly right. Blunter and more straight-forward than what I was saying, but the same thing. No one really looks like that. Everyone works at it. For whatever reason, I've always thought of tailoring automatically. Maybe because I always played around making things with a sewing machine but no lessons?

FWIW, a friend was almost dying laughing when she tried on a bikini and I told her to have the top (too large for her) altered. Then I showed her where it would be taken in, creating a smaller size, but also a more pronounced curve to the top, and told her to get it lined. It was a huge moment for her. Suddenly she realized she could feel good in the bikini. "Like a real girl!" The irony? She's 5'11 and a perfect model body type.

celia

Veteran

Dang it, dang it, dang it, i want my clothes to fit like a model too. It seems so effortless, nothing budges or rides up, layers behave and they mix different styles without looking like a hot mess.
And let's not start talking about the hair that curls in perfect waves and stays put without clinging to jackets or having fits of static.

Niefern

That is why I prefer to see clothes worn by 'normal' women, because it gives me a much better idea of how they will look on me. This is the main reason why I almost never watch runway shows, because to me, they are close to useless.

Anonymous

I've never wanted to look like those stick-thin models, and I second the motion of seeing clothes on real women.

That said, I feel blessed that certain brands fit me off-the-rack with little or no alterations necessary. Since my mother was a seamstress and used to make almost all of my clothes, I know that when something doesn't fit or look quite right, the problem is the clothes--not my body.

And no, I don't have the perfect body. I've had 4 children, 3 of them via c-section delivery. I also have wide feet that are afflicted with bunions. And hair that's difficult to do much with. Somehow I manage to play up my assets and downplay my flaws to look as fab as I possibly can sans cosmetic surgery.

The first step is self respect and acceptance. The second step is the realization that those models don't look like that in real life.

Suz

(website)

Veteran

Fluid fit. Fluid fit. Fluid fit.

For me at least it is the impression of ease I'm after. Easy elegance.

Anonymous

For me, it's all about illusion dressing. Fluid fit, as Suz says, helps immensely.

Windchime

Veteran

Then again, the models can't wear things like you do. And they can't do your job.
Okay, I'm trying to offer you a broader perspective, but I totally get longing to look like a gorgeous model.

londonkiwi (now back in NZ)

Veteran

I know exactly how you feel.

I would love more than anything to be just one inch taller, slightly longer in the body and have a narrower rib cage. None of these things I can change, ever and they really do effect how clothes look on me and how I photograph - it doesn't matter how slim I am.

Anonymous

I can relate to what you're saying. Even though I'm kind of tall and willowy, clothes don't hang on me like the models either. And their legs are about twice as long as mine are. Which is why the proportions for me need to be completely different, not to achieve the same look (almost impossible sometimes) but to achieve a pleasing, presentable look. I get it!

Peri

Veteran

Nothing smart to add, just that you gave me my laugh of the day!

But here's what's worse...I don't even look like me anymore. I carry this image around I my head that probably is how I looked about 10 years ago...then every time I look in the mirror there's this little blip of shock and then "oh....yeah". I have yet to get used to that.

12 3