Ryan Seacrest, 5’8″ (1.73m)

There are some simple ways a man can dress to look taller, and the formula for dressing taller isn’t really that difficult to learn. It’s just a matter of sticking with a few rules of thumb when buying clothes

Of course a kind-confidence, a smile, and a good intention will trump any formula for dressing well.

How we dress is a constant journey and not a destination. It can be overwhelming to try to do everything right at once and when we stop enjoying the process, then the art of presenting ourselves well is no longer an art, but a burden. And so with a light heart, we look at a few ways to dress to look taller.

Most of us know that (1) wearing vertical stripes lengthens the silhouette, (2) standing up straight can add a good inch to your height , (3) bolder blues / lighter blacks will look better on shorter guys than very dark colors that “shrink” the total appearance, and (4) heels on shoes lift the body…and so we’ll skip over these obvious points.

Here are six clever ways to dress to look taller :

1. Wear fitted clothes

Wear fitted clothes and suits that stay especially close to the body.

Most of us have seen this photo before, but never seem to tire of the apt point that it makes. Without question, baggy clothes will stretch the silhouette horizontally, causing a person to look wider, instead of taller. Think about lengthening (instead of widening) yourself from head-to-toe whenever you dress. It’s sobering to notice the transformation that a shorter man experiences when he forgoes his baggy clothing for clothes that reveal a streamlined silhouette.

2. Add accessories positioned high-up on the body

The idea is to draw other peoples’ eyes to your upper body, thus creating the illusion of more height. Accessories are fun to wear, and can include hats, glasses, lapel pins, tie pins and pocket squares. Tons of accessories, however, can create an eccentric look. Somewhere around three classic accessories should do the job.

3. Ditch the belts, long hair, and waistcoats (vests)

A belt is put on horizontally. The horizontal line that is created by the belt visually cuts the body in half.

Waistcoats (or vests) have a shortening effect by creating a very busy middle-section of the body, which draws attention away from the overall vertical line.

Long hair (with the exception of a top-knot) hides the neck, which is elongating to the body.

4. Keep the waist button (button stance) on your coat positioned above the navel

As shown in the above drawing, choose jackets with a high waist button, or button stance, which draws the eye higher up on the body, as well as lengthens the appearance of the legs.

You’ll notice that the button stance on Tom Cruise’s jacket above, is especially high and is effective in making him appear taller.

5. Wear shorter jackets, and have NO BREAK on the pant legs

Lengthen the legs by opting for no break on the pant legs. Image credit: primermagazine.com

Usually, a suit jacket should just cover the buttocks. However, a slightly shorter jacket exposes more of the legs, and slightly shorter pants exposes more of the shoe; both of which creates a continuous, unbroken body line with more of the body showing…which, in turn, makes you appear taller.

6. Wear Monochromatic Colors

Tom Cruise standing tall at 5’7″ or 1.70m, wearing navy monochromatic colors, no belt and vertical stripes.

Wearing colors within the same color spectrum avoids breaking the body line (with the distraction of different colors), and lengthens the silhouette from head to toe.

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