Longer Leaner Looking Legs 3: Shoe Styles

LITTLE ARGUMENT that the higher the heels on your shoes, the longer and leaner your legs will look. If you compare the four figures all in flat-heeled shoes on the darker pant vs lighter comparison page with the figures in higher heels above, you will see that this is so.

But no matter what the heel height of your footwear, style experts advise that, whether the color is the same as your pants or contrasting, the design of your shoes can modify the degree of your longer and leaner looking effect.

Pointed toes on footwear make the legs look longer and leaner than rounded toes. In the left-most image I am wearing low heels with rounded toes. In the next image, taken when I am wearing the same pants and jacket, the boot heels are almost twice as high and the toes are pointed. You can see the difference in the appearance of my legs in the two images.

The general rule is that shoes the same color as the pants will make the legs look longer and leaner than if the shoes are a contrasting color. In the two images on the left, the black jeans worn with the red tunic, the black boots have a heel about an inch shorter than the red shoes. The toes of the black boots are not as sharply pointed as the toes of the red shoes. To my eyes, the red shoes' sharper toes and higher heels more than compensate for the contrasting color, especially given the design of the shoe. If the comparison had been between two pair of boots with the same heels and toes, and if one pair had matched the black pants, and the other had been bright red, then the general rule would have held.

DESPITE FASHION MODEL and designer Inès de la Fressange and IMF chief Christine Lagarde, both tall, the majority of French women are of moderate height or quite petite. So they have been very clever at finding ways to make their legs look longer — and in the process leaner. The end result is to make those chic French women look chicer and slimmer.

In the introduction I explained my aim of this Longer Leaner Looking Legs Project. I had collected techniques for use in the updated Chic & Slim Toujours. But the photos demonstrating the techniques were shown on very tall, very thin professional fashion models. Not to mention, young professional fashion models. I wanted to see if the longer leaner looking legs techniques would work on someone more normal size — and someone of certain age. So I tested the techniques on myself, I, who am not quite 5 foot 4 inches (1.6 meters), of a somewhat stocky build, and 71 years. If the techniques worked for me, they would likely work for many women.

In these three pages of photos and text I have given you some of the Longer Leaner Looking Legs techniques I collected. The full range of techniques, including those for making your legs look longer and leaner when wearing skirts, will be part of the Legs section in the text of the updated Chic & Slim Toujours: aging beautifully like those chic French women.

be chic, stay slim — and don’t forget that your personal style choices can make you look chicer and slimmer — Anne Barone

PREVIOUS — Longer Leaner Looking Legs 2: Monochrome vs. 2 Color Outfits

Longer Leaner Looking Legs 1: Darker Pant Color vs. Lighter

Introduction to Longer Leaner Looking Legs