As I write this I’m wearing a skirt with an untucked top and flats that illustrates a few of the styling strategies I suggested earlier this week for lengthening the leg line when wearing flats.
Here are the exact components of the outfit:
The skirt is a breezy and light Summer lace pencil that finishes below my knee like you see on the model. I often use strategy #6 — tuck or semi-tuck tops into bottoms — to lengthen the leg line in flats, but instead opted for strategy #10 by wearing a cropped untucked top. The shorter top raises the horizontal line of the hem which shortens the waist and thereby lengthens the leg line. This is especially noticeable since the top is high contrast against the skirt.
The boxy volume of the cropped top is tempered by the narrow silhouette of the pencil skirt which adds structure to the outfit.
I chose flat white sandals which are low contrast against my pale skin tone, thereby putting strategy #3 into action. The low contrast makes my foot look like it’s an extension of the leg thereby visually increasing its length without heels. My lower legs would look shorter if I wore dark sandals in this outfit. Bonus that the white sandals bookend my hair and pick up the colour of the white top and sunnies, which help create a cohesive statement.
Despite traditional guidelines of how to create a long lean line by wearing a column of colour with heels – I feel sufficiently long limbed wearing a knee-covering midi skirt with a high-contrast untucked top and flats when I manipulate the proportions of the outfit.
