FashBlog.com

By Brandi M. Seals

Long shirts seem to be everywhere recently. They seem to be the hot new trend and for once, I do not have anything bad to say. I actually think these longer shirts are really cute, but there is a problem. I, like many people, cannot wear them. I have what is known as a pear shape. That means I have a small top and larger bottom. No one with this shape should be caught dead in a long shirt. All they do is draw attention to the hips and quite frankly they can get enough attention on their own.

I love long shirts for anyone with a reverse triangle shape (broad shoulders with a narrow body) because they will visually even the person out. By making the hips look bigger, the shoulders seem to be more in proportion with the body. Many other shapes can get away with the tops too. I am just sad that I cannot.

I love that people are finally covering up their navels. It has been a tummy-friendly time for far too long. Now it is finally time to keep things covered and I find myself at a crossroads. I can find long shirts, which as I discussed before are not ideal for my body shape. I can also find tops that barely touch the top of my pants (and they are not even a low rise pant). That means the tummy pops out if I raise my arms. I am not a fan of this.

When are we finally going to get shirts that are somewhere in between? All we need is for someone to design shirts that fall somewhere in the middle. My only hope is that as these long tops die out, a new shorter version comes out that I can wear.

The other day I went sweater shopping. First I went to The Gap Outlet. They had really cute things but they seem to have hopped full force on the long shirt bandwagon. Now with these longer pieces out there, I have to try everything on just to see how far down it falls. I would have excellent luck at The Gap with one of their sweaters, but they did not have it in the size and color I needed.

Next I headed over to Old Navy. I have avoided Old Navy over the years because they tended to have mainly tee shirts that would shrink a lot in the wash. However, after the latest barrage of sweater commercials, I decided to give them a try. I must say I was nicely surprised by their selection. Looks like they have come a long way in the past 5 years (the last time I was in an Old Navy was sometime around 2001).

I really wanted the gray kangaroo sweater (a hooded sweater with a pouch) they had been advertising. I was out of luck. They did not have any left in the store. I did, however, find a cute blue sweater that worked for me. It took a lot of work, but I finally found a longish sweater that went just a little past the top of my hips. The rest stretched well beyond that and only made me feel self-conscious.

I think this is the first fashion trend that I have really wanted to take part in, but realized I just do not have the body to do it. I am sure there have been some that I did in my youth that did not look the best on me, but I was not fully aware of it then. Now, I know what my limitations are and this is the first time it has really annoyed me.

I have short legs with a long torso and I have never been able to wear capris. While I would like to find a pair that worked for me, I have yet to discover them. Regardless of whether or not they are from the petite department, the capris always fall at least to my ankles. This has been annoying, but I was okay with the way things were.

I bet we all have things like this. Trends that we really like but cannot take part in. What trend do you wish you could do but cannot?