In my last weeks post I decided to give anything I like a go at a high street store, even though knew some dresses would look terrible on a bustier bodytype. There you can see a pink / black color block dress which only managed to emphasize my bust and make me look smaller everywhere else…

This inspired me to make a basic list of patters I’ve learned to avoid since they do no favors for the big bosomed ladies general shape. Spring trends are offering a wide selection of patterns this year so we need to be careful what to pick from this trend.

First lets look at the black and white trend. I’m personally a big fan of graphic print and you’ve seen me rock a striped long skirt this year already which to my surprise suited my shape well!

Can just see the effect around the bust area how the stripes will widen and draw extra focus there, also doubt the stripes pointing both ways around the tummy will be forgiving.
Love this dress BUT can see the umph that a bigger than average bust will get from the stripe placement at the top when there’s umph enough naturally.
This pattern is purely designed to emphasize the bust. Need I say more 🙂

Of course there are lovely black and white items for us curvy women too in the spring collections, just not the ones above.  The dresses are all from ASOS.

Color blocking has been around for a while now and I’ve picked out two examples I’ve learned to steer clear from.

If the top was entirely white then this might just so so work but with the black armhole edges – this will just widen the bust and create a so called matronly look which is not the point of this design.
Hourglass silhoutte enhancing design? So you might think, I did before. The problem is how the red block widens all the way to the shoulders and with a big wide bust it creates a very top heavy look which is out of balance.

There are other patterns and designs commonly for sale at the moment which don’t work for a curvier figure but these are my prime examples. As a general rule, any design that is clearly emphasizing the bust area will usually be a bit of a disaster on a naturally busty shape. This is because many clearly bust emphasizing designs throw the design off balance for curvier ladies, especially for the ones with narrower hips. Also from a corporate point of view, being a busty woman is challenging enough so emphasizing the bust even more is a bad idea for a corporate work environment.