Swimsuit Competition
 Hide Figure Flaws With the Swimsuit's Style
The right style is also important to a winning look. Thanks to high-tech pageant swimwear companies, contestants now have access to a host of styles designed to emphasize assets, camouflage figure flaws, and improve a contestant's figure onstage. But using such designs to full advantage requires knowing your figure. "Develop a personal analysis of your figure-your assets, what you need to hide, and what you need to bring out," advises Kathleen Munson, of Minnesota's The Pageant Shop.
Evaluating a girl's figure helps the contestant and her wardrobers determine the most flattering design. "You need to really look at what that particular body is like and adjust the swimsuit to what she looks like," advises Vernon DeSear, who supervised Miss Floridas' wardrobe selection for years. "There are many ways that you can take an average figure and make it look great because of the suit and the fit of the suit-regardless of the type of figure she has."
Use your Swimsuit to Create Flattering Optical Illusions
Improving a contestant's figure by creating flattering optical illusions makes such a difference onstage that body re-designer Joseph Christiano conducts a "swimsuit analysis" for his clients. "I have them model half-a-dozen swimsuits in different cuts and colors. I take front and back Polaroid shots of each, and we lay them out, study them, and make comparisons." Joseph will point out the optical illusions each style creates on the girl's body. "I'll show her, 'See how this cut compliments your lines? See how much better you look here, how it makes your legs look longer?' The minute you make comparisons with photos, it makes all the difference in the world-and they see it."
So do the judges-although their response is often a gut reaction. "Sometimes I don't think the judges know what they're looking for," says Christiano, "but the initial first impression, those first lines you see, are going to influence their scoring. If a girl comes out and her swimsuit cuts the lines of her body, then the judges could get a negative reading and give her less of a score-and not really know why. If the swimsuit's cut and color are wrong, you can lose points just on that. If girls are not aware of that, it could be to their detriment. Once your body is in shape, we have to get all the lines flowing so when you come out onstage, it all creates the right illusion for the judges."
Many figure flaws can be concealed, camouflaged, or balanced with clever swimsuit design and optical illusion. Here are guidelines from experts in pageant swimwear:
Whatever your figure flaw-emphasize the opposite...
- The eye follows the line of your swimsuit.
- Vertical lines lengthen and slenderize.
- Horizontal lines shorten and broaden.
- Diagonal lines can slenderize and add curves to the waist, but can also cut torso length.
- Curved lines soften and add curves.
Swimsuit Competition Overview
Improve Specific Figure Flaws
Swimsuit Diet
Improve your Body
The Best Swimsuit for your Figure
The Best Swimsuit Color
Swimsuit Competition - all tips
All content is from the book "101 Secrets to Winning Beauty Pageants" by Ann-Marie Bivans.
Any use of this content without written permission from the author is plagiarism and will result in legal action.
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