A cocktail dress for each body type

One of the most versatile dresses that were ever designed for wear on special occasions is the cocktail dress. While the events for which  cocktail dresses   are worn are usually late afternoon or early evening affairs that are too casual to be called black-tie events, many  cocktail dresses   can now be worn elsewhere, depending on the cut and the material of the dress and the accessories worn with it.

To wear a cocktail dress to a more formal event, all you need to do is to accessorize accordingly, perhaps wear more flashy pieces of jewelry and heavier makeup. If you need to wear something dressy to the office for any reason other than the usual skirt or pantsuit, you can wear a cocktail dress that is not too flashy and just throw on a blazer and slip into sensible office shoes. Many current styles of  cocktail dresses   are no longer limited to being party wear anymore.

Choosing what style of cocktail dress to wear, however, can be very tricky for most women. After all, only a few women could claim to have truly perfect bodies, and most women who do not fall into the supermodel category prefer to hide the flaws of their figures. Wearing a one-piece dress such as a cocktail dress can easily reveal those flaws if the dress does not fit the wearer’s body type.

In picking out the right cocktail dress to wear, a woman should always consider her body type - if she is top-heavy or bottom-heavy - and find something that will balance out her figure. If it is bottom-heavy, it should be to draw attention to the upper part of her body and to her face. If she is top-heavy, she has the option to emphasize her cleavage or to wear something that will pull the eyes to her legs.

What kind of cocktail dress would a woman have with a bottom-heavy figure? As said above, a woman with a bottom-heavy figure would want to hide the thickness around her hips and thighs. A good cocktail dress for her to wear would be a dress that fits tightly around the waist but with the seams pushed out by the padding around the abdomen and having a skirt that flies out of the hips and thighs. A cocktail dress with a full skirt would be perfect for a woman with a bottom-heavy figure because it will definitely hide whatever flabbiness and bulges that she would like to see.

Another option available for a woman with a bottom-heavy figure is a cocktail dress that sports an empire-style waistline. A cocktail dress with an empire-style waistline has the higher waist, thus pulling the eyes towards the shoulders, the neck and the face. It also drapes and skims over the lower body. The only risk with wearing an empire-style cocktail dress, however, is that the empire-style cut is often used on maternity dresses, and so a woman wearing such a dress may be mistaken to be pregnant.

And yet another choice for a woman with a bottom-heavy figure is a cocktail dress that is either sleeveless or strapless, also with a flaring skirt. Again, baring the arms and the shoulders is effective in drawing attention away from the hips.

As  for women   with top-heavy figures, she could either emphasize her cleavage or her legacy, as mentioned above. If she wants to focus on her legs rather than her cleavage, she can wear a cocktail dress with a solid-colored top paired with a patterned skirt. She can hike the hem of her skirt up to make it short and really draw the eyes to her legs.

If she wants to attract attention to her cleavage rather than her legs, she can cover up her legs in a long-skirted cocktail dress but reveal a little skin on her upper body with a low V-neck gold plunging neckline. In fact, she can draw the eyes to both of her dresses by wearing a neckline if she wants to. What she should not wear a cocktail dress with an overly busy top because it will make her upper body look larger and skew the scale of her figure.

The accessories also help to maintain the illusion of balance on the woman's silhouette apart from wearing the right cocktail dress. Heavier women may wear glittering earrings, necklaces, or necklaces, while heavier women may give up necklaces and opt for a bracelet. However, she should first buy her cocktail dress before determining which accessories, bag and shoes to wear.