Are Your Polo Shirt Stripes Headed in the Right Direction?

Wednesday 20th of June 2012 06:55:55 AM

Are Your Polo Shirt Stripes Headed in the Right Direction? Have you ever looked closely at the stripes on your polo shirts and t-shirts? Are they heading in the right direction? Do you even know which way is the right direction?

Stripes in fashion has always been a hot button topic. The question is: Do they or don’t they make you look heavier than you weigh? Does it matter if the stripes are vertical, horizontal or diagonal on your custom polo shirts? These are the questions that women thought they knew the answer to. It’s a basic fashion law – horizontal stripes will make you look heavy.

For a while, the theory that horizontal stripes could make you look fat was said to be untrue. You could wear whatever you wanted. However, one look in the mirror told the real story. Horizontal stripes could make you look wider, so wear vertical or diagonal stripes instead. Now scientists have once again proved the mirror was right.

A study was conducted on stripes by Val Waltham recently. Her whole premise was that horizontal stripes would actually make a person look wider. Her study measured people’s perceptions when looking at stripes in 3D.

The study result was that the mirror really is right because people perceive horizontal stripes as making the wearer look heavier and shorter. Vertical stripes make people look thinner and taller. The study also reported that black clothing is the most flattering color to wear. Solid black will make a person look slimmer than they are.

For proving what we all knew in our hearts, Waltham won the BBC Amateur Scientist of the Year award. Maybe she should win a lot more because we need facts to back up what we see in the mirror. So when you are putting on your printed t shirts or polo shirts, watch out for the stripes. You don’t want them to head you in the wrong direction.