Cheryl Cole and Celeb Insecurities

Update: We have a new photo as suggested by one reader, which better showcases Cheryl's proportions.
I came across a slide-show on British Glamour magazine, about celebrities and their insecurities, with quotes and photos. Some of them are relevant to our blog, including Shakira, Cheryl Cole, Mischa Barton, and Scarlette Johansson who talk of their short legs. Check it out here.

The photo above is of Cheryl Cole, she has a slight disproportion, not as strong as she sees it, I am sure. She wears very high heels constantly and it's difficult to find images where we can see her legs as they really are, but this one of her in flip-flops is good.
Cheryl was voted the sexiest woman in the world, and a few other titles including most photogenic.

She says "'I’ve got a new fondness for high-waisted jeans because they make my legs look longer.'

There is also a nice quote by Cheryl saying:
"If somebody sees a bit of cellulite on my legs that's been circled in a magazine and it makes them feel comfortable then I'm happy that I've made that one person at home go 'Cheryl's got cellulite, it's fine'. I do it myself. I flick through magazines and see Kate Moss has got cellulite and it makes me feel happier about myself. You can't help it."
We certainly do it here as well.

Christine Martin

Christine Martin is a English beauty queen, and former Miss Liverpool. I believe she has become a lingerie model as well. She has a toned and slim body, and the suitable long torso for posing in magazine in near undress. This is something we have noticed to be with these types of models, long legs are rare, and all the focus is on the feminine and beautiful torso. Something to be proud off.

Georgie Thompson

Georgie is an English TV personality and sports presenter. She is an attractive female with a normal sized and voluptuous torso quite adored by sport fans, however below the reporting desk she has extremely short legs, almost dwarf like which are rarely viewed by the public. She is also just five feet tall and is "addicted to high heels"

Interestingly, she owns a dachshund, those long dogs with extremely short legs, and you know what they say about dog's and their owners...(they look alike, and that people unconsciously choose a dog that looks like them).

Nonetheless Georgie was voted as 52nd sexiest women alive by FHM magazine a few years ago.

Gwyneth Paltrow

I like Gwyneth, despite quite a lot of people not liking her, so I am overjoyed to discover she too has our sort of physique, some of you even said my body proportions are like hers. The reason I had not noticed her lengthy torso is that one, she always wears very high heels, and two, it appears her legs are longer from ankle to knee, and shortish from the knees to hips. These long shins of her's give the appearance of lengthy legs, when she wears dresses.

When Gwyneth is with her children however, she chooses sensible shoes and clothes, and this is when we can glance at her true proportions, which are not extreme but nonetheless a lengthy torso with medium legs.

By the way that bikini of her's is very wrong for her body type, it's too tiny and too low down, she needs to chose a higher rise bottom, other then that her fashion choices have been quite good, she does mask her proportions quite well.

Marilyn Monroe

Ah Marilyn Monroe, a vision of beauty and sexiness, the ultimate beloved icon!

And yet, she might as well be the Lady Short Legs, or at least the pin up for Lady Short Legs. By today's standards she is indeed considered short legged and plump, however she is nevertheless still adored. In this article the writer speaks of "Monroe's unruly breasts, her wide bottom, short legs, cellulite-dappled thighs and rounded, womanly stomach" I find the article a bit vulgar, nonetheless we can take pride in having the body of one of the most desired women of modern time. 

Jodie Foster

Here is Jodie Foster in a number of dresses and we can see how short legged she is, especially in the photo from behind. When looking at the image of when she was a young teen she appears to be quite long legged, making me wonder how it is that her proportions changed.

Does it have to do with how our buttocks sag with age, making the back appear longer and legs shorter? I am not saying Jodie has a saggy butt (well its normal for her age), but I can certainly say that about myself. When I look at myself in full length in profile (from the side), it's my butt that separates the back from the legs, and my butt being flat and not perky it does bring down the length of the back. However when I flex my butt, thus brining it up, my torso is suddenly shorter. In conclusion I think it can do wonders to work on your buttocks to make them perky and raised.
I will perhaps include a photo of myself from the side as evidence.

AnnaLynne McCord

AnnaLynne McCord is a young Television starlet, who I know form her role in Nip/Tuck, and is currently one of the leads in the new 90201 series, prior to acting she was a model. AnnaLynne has a feminine long torso, with a beautiful waistline.

Take notice how the position of the camera has some effect on body proportions, if a photo is taken from higher up, her legs appear even shorter (striped bikini), whereas if the camera is positioned lower to the ground, the torso is shortened by way of perspective. Therefor if you would like your legs to appear longer have the person photographing you crouch on the ground

nicole scherzinger

  

I have always considered Nicole Scherzinger as having a nice waist and stomach, and now it ties together, her legs are a bit on the short side, and her torso is beautifully feminine. In her music videos and her general style, focuses quite a bit on her stomach area, showcasing her lovely torso, perhaps we too should take example and not try hide our proportions all the time, but put them proudly on display once in a while. 

Rachel Bilson bikini

Here are some recent beach photos of Rachel Bilson, as pointed out by two of our readers (thanks). What we can observer here is Rachel's proportions, yes she does have short legs, she does have a long torso, and yet she is gorgeously sexy.
However those tiny bikini's of her's are not flattering, particularly the bottoms, they are so minute in size, that they make everything in their vicinity exaggerated; the thighs, the hips and the butt, and of course the torso appears even longer then it is.
Still my dear ladies, just look at that lovely waistline, one that short torsoed gals could only fantasize about in their wildest dreams.

giada de laurentiis

Giada De Laurenttis, is an Italian America chef with quite a number of Food Network cooking shows in her resume, notably Everyday Italian and Giada at Home. Apparently when she first began appearing on air, people wrote in accusing the network of hiring a model or actress to portray a chef, due to her beauty.
Giada is certainly regarded as sexy, and I think she is sweet and charismatic, and she has short legs and a long torso just like us ladies! When I look at her body it appears very very similar to mine, except for the voluptuous breast.

mischa barton

A number of you have requested I post about Mischa Barton, and you are right she does indeed have a long torso coupled with short legs. Mischa rose to fame with her role in the telelvision sereis The O.C. which was a favorite of mine at the time, and now I am discovering that both leading beauties have long torsos. Yay Marissa Cooper and Summer Roberts are just like us.
I wonder if they knew at the time and had a hear to heart chat about it, or maybe the costume department clued them in on it?

good vs bad clothing

The clothes we chose to wear can hide our faults and greatly enhance our good features, stylist and costume designers have been saying this forever, and it really is true. Here is long torso/short legs Christina Ricci showcasing three great and three poor fashion choices.

-The first black dress elongates her total height making her seem less petite thanks to those yellow and white stripes, and that very important black horizontal stripe under her breasts gives the optical illusion that this is where her legs begin making them appear supermodel length. Her top half is beautiful with nice arms and cleavage.
-The second more casual look, is good because her dark denim jeans are matched by the pointy toed shoes and the dark under shirt, creating a good long line from where the white jacket ends all the way down to the floor. (Although the jeans could have been a little longer to avoid the little stripes of skin.) The jacket itself is cute with its shorter sleeves focusing the attention upward.
-The blue dress has a bit of a high neckline, however the black stripe at the waist (or perhaps above the waist) has the same effect as the stripe in the first yellow and black dress, creating a lovely high waist and masking where the legs actually begin, making them appear quite lengthy. It is also good that the dress is not tight.

-The red dress in the bottom row is too tight, showing us where her butt is, and therefore her long long back, and together with that awfully high neckline it really looks as though her torso is the length of that large expanse of red fabric. If the neckline was lower like in the first "good" dress, and the heels were skin colored then it would be better, (but still too tight).
-The look with the skin tight jeans and the long shirt is clearly quite unflattering, her legs are not long enough to pull of this look. If the shirt was shorter it would be a little better. But it would really be better for her, and us to not wear skinny jeans unless paired with tall boots.
-The last look with the black dress, is similar to the red dress, but with an even higher neckline. It's a turtle neck, the biggest taboo for us Lady Short Legs! Once again, the entire dress looks like one long torso.

In conclusion ladies,  as one of our readers said "almost anyone can look bad with the right clothes", we really can mask our flaws and insecurities, all we need is to be aware of them and consequently make the right fashion choices.

olivia wilde

Olivia Wilde is an actress made famous primarily by the television shows The O.C. and House. She has since been voted as number 1 in Maxim magazines hot 100 list of 2009, and fellow actress Megan Fox famously said "Olivia Wilde is so sexy she makes me want to strangle a mountain ox with my bare hands. She's mesmerizing." On top of that plastic surgeons have declared hers as one of the most requested bodies.

However as a number of you pointed out, she does have a long torso with shortish legs. Her legs are even sort of chunky not skinny like most starlets, so it's quite an intense compliment to us ladies with similar proportions, to be one of the most desired bodies. Yay!

kate hudson quote

A number of you have been of different opinion regarding Kate Hudson's proportions. I believe she is in fact disproportionate, and Kate herself has the same viewpoint. Here is a direct quote from an interview Kate Hudson gave for Harpers Bazaar magazine regarding her style:

"If there's a secret to her look, it is maintaining a steely resistance to trends. Her current no-no? Tapered jeans. ""Much as I like the way they look on women with long legs, my body does not look appropriate in tapered jeans. I have a long torso.""
(the quote is on the third page, in the second paragraph)

high waisted Keira

Here is our Lady Short Leg's duchess Keira Knightley looking incredible in high waisted trousers. Considering that she is aware of her proportions, it appears that she is choosing her fashion accordingly, and luckily for her and for us all high waisted jeans and trousers are quite in style. Those billowy trousers of hers paired with the nautical striped top or the deep V neck blouse is thoroughly a good outfit for us (besides a dress) and very chic too. I especially like the ones with the four buttons, however in some of the looks, it would have been better to match the shoe color to the trousers, for a more elongating look.  

A baggy/wide leg pant (like hers), as supposed to tight high rise one, is better as it does not draw attention to a long back.