How To Choose A Strapless Dress

Hi! I'm Claire Watson, owner of personal styling business—Miss dressed. Today I will be showing you plenty of tips and tricks on style and lots of fashion advice that you can use for work and play. I'm often asked by lots of my clients, women, all ages all shapes and sizes, “can I wear a strapless dress?”.

The answer is yes you can. As long as you remember some key golden rules that are relevant to your body shape. Firstly it's the neck line that is most important.

If you are small busted, make sure that the neckline is straight. What that does is it helps to enhance the bust and make it appear bigger. Whereas, if you are larger busted, make sure that the neckline you choose is scalloped.

So it's got that slight dip at the bottom. That will actually flatter your bust line and will avoid it from looking like that dreaded ski slope effect. Next think about bra straps, under no circumstances should bra straps be showing.

It looks cheap and it's really unsophisticated and unstylish. Never wear clear bra straps. I've seen too many girls trying to wear them with a strapless dress.

It just looks cheap, so don't do it. If you're in doubt wear a bodice. A strapless bodice gives far more structure and support to the bust, regardless whether you are large or big busted and it's just a far more flattering shape underneath a strapless dress, so if you are bigger busted, go for one that has again got the scalloped edge but also make sure that the back of the bodice comes down like low so there is no chance of the top of it showing and then that will fit quite neatly underneath the dress making sure that nothing shows and you've got that full support.

And then as a final point when it comes to choosing a strapless dress, if you're conscious about the tops of your arms or particularly at the armpits, like so many of us are then don't let that put you off wearing one of these dresses. Just go for a fine textured shrug that you can just drape over your shoulders, texture is really important because that is what detracts from that area of the arm. Is ay avoid long sleeved tops because it does suddenly transform the fact that you are wearing a strapless dress and you don't want to take away the emphasis on that so go for something quite short but it's the texture that will allow your arms to appear slimmer and more shapely, saving you that self conscious feeling and you can choose between something more feathery like this one, or sequins, or chiffon or even something like velvet as well.

So those are just a few tips on how to wear a strapless dress.