How your modest clothes fit communicates professional, social and financial ‘STATUS’.
Yes, it may seem superficial, but the first thing you do when you see anyone is look at them and how they are put together. If your clothes are gathering or pulling because of a poor fit, that’s where people’s eyes tend to go.
People form an opinion of you in the first few seconds of meeting you and it goes way beyond how well your dressed. A study done by two teams in the UK and Turkey stated that it took 3 seconds before making ‘snap judgements’ of images shown to the participants (both men and women).
In some of the pictures the man wore a made-to-measure suit. In others he wore a very similar off-the-peg suit bought on the high street. The differences in the suits were very minor – we controlled for all the big differences such as color and fabric, as well as making sure the face of the model was pixelated so that there could be no hidden messages in the facial expressions.
After just a 3-second exposure people judged the man more favorably in the bespoke suit. And the judgements were not about how well dressed he was.
They rated him as more confident, successful, flexible and a higher earner in a tailor-made suit than when he wore a high street equivalent.
Like it or not if your clothes don’t fit well, people assume, most of the time unconsciously, that you don’t care or can’t afford to buy clothes that fit or worse what was mentioned in the above case study.
Now as women who dress modestly, eyes are already on us because we don’t blend in. Especially if we choose to cover our hair, however we decide to cover it.
In this current climate in America the way in which you cover is also how you are perceived and treated. So, your kimar, gaylay, hijab or hat is a part of your style and another form of your unique self-expression.
You can have any look you want but how it fits is the key. Even if you like free-flowing clothing- it should fit correctly and not look sloppy.
What do I mean by that exactly….
Say for instance you have a top that’s loose fitting that you LOVE.
You love it because the color is right and its comfortable. Does the top fit your shoulders? Are you constantly pulling it forward or back because it doesn’t lay correctly? Usually that’s a shoulder slope problem, which can be adjusted by a tailor. Your shoulder slope is just that, how much your shoulder slopes from the base of your neck to the edge of your shoulder.
When buying tops check for how the shoulders fit you. Where does the sleeve seam lay- if its loose fitting it may hang over the shoulder, if its tailored it should be right where your shoulders round off.
When buying clothes in general tops or bottoms, always buy for your largest area (measurement). If your hips are the widest part of your body, make sure the garment fits around that and then go to a tailor and take everything else in. Or you can do it yourself if you have a sewing machine.
I know most of us are short on time and money so buying clothes online is a go to option. So here are some quick tips so you can save on both.
Take these measurements and save them someplace on your computer so you have them handy.
- Chest/ bust measurement
- Waist measurement
- Hip measurement
- Inseam measurement
- Shoulder measurement
Always check the size chart for the item your looking at- don’t rely on the size you usually get.
- Jacket: check the shoulder and hip measurements.
- Pants: hips and waist measurements.
- Tops: chest and hip measurements
- Dresses: chest, waist, hip and length measurements
Always buy for the largest measurement- you can take fabric in, but you can’t add it.
Do you have fit questions? Ask in the comments!
