There’s no denying that the off the shoulder trend is a pretty hot one this summer.
Even Kate Middleton, Duchess Catherine of Cambridge, Mrs William Windsor was in on the trend when she wore a stunning Barbara Casaola dress to a glitzy awards ceremony at the Natural History Museum recently.
The gorgeous Kate has an enviable ability to look lovely in whatever she wears, but for those of us with less confidence in our decolletage, or a bust that won’t stay put even with an industrial strength strapless bra for scaffolding, is there a way to interpret the off the shoulder look without a wardrobe malfunction?
Why follow the off the shoulder trend?
Hmm. It’s one of those trends that claims to be ‘sexy without being too sexy’ and the allure lies in the fact that with an off the shoulder piece you can cover up some of your cleavage (always good for avoiding a sunburned decolletage in this weather we’ve been having recently) but still stay slightly daring.
Showing off your shoulders is one way of exposing flesh if you’re not a fan of showing the tops of your arms because you think you have bingo wings. We could argue all week about whether you should worry about such things, but the point is, some people don’t like exposing their upper arms but are quite happy baring a bit of shoulder. Did you know that your clavicle is also an erogenous zone,
Like Wingz, going off the shoulder opens up various different sleeve design possibilities too. The classic Bardot style top with both shoulders exposed is sexy without being obvious and taps into a retro style revival that looks fabulous on just about anyone.
A one shoulder asymmetrical dress can look amazing, and there are even cut out style tops that give bigger boobed women the chance to show a bit of shoulder without going braless or trusting their support needs to a strapless bra.
If you’re not sure, try something like this Daisy Street tee from ASOS,com for just £12.99
Asymmetrical styles are great if you have a bra that’s up to the job, but if not you can still wear them – just do a little bit of clever layering and wear a one-shouldered top with a vest top underneath just to keep everything where it should be.
Depending on how low the off shoulder is, and the style, you can also add Wingz with a little tinkering about. Because the band sits under your bra, you can wear Wingz with most styles – and because of the elastic fitting you could even add a set of Wingz to a strappy top then pull them down to expose your shoulders. Genius!
How are you wearing the off the shoulder look?