Lily Aldridge

Our Victoria's Secrete mystery beauty has been identified at last by one of our observant readers. Her name is Lily Aldridge, and although she looks Brazilian, or Spanish or something exotic of that sort she is in fact from Los Angeles. She has started working regularly with Victoria's Secret and is on the rise.
She is apparently 5'8" or 5'9", and by observing more photos of her, I feel she is not as disproportionate as we first believed (it must have been the clothes), however I still feel she is not long legged like say Gisele, instead being normalish, or a little bit long torsoed.

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?

bar rafaeli

It's amazing, before I began this blog I thought only Paris Hilton and perhaps Keira Knightley had my proportions, and now that I am on the constant look out for long torso, and with the help of you lovely readers, we are finding similarly proportioned famous gals everywhere. I especially adore finding our proportions in models, because they are regarded as being the pinnacle of beauty and perfection, so here is another top model to add to our growing list. Bar Rafaeli, the on again off again girlfriend of Leonardo DiCaprio, and Sports Illustrated cover girl of 2009. She certainly does not have the proportions of Leo's previous girl Giselle, who is all legs, but no waist, instead Bar, has a curvaceous long torso. And when you browse through professional photo's of her, they are primarily focused on her feminine torso, furthermore she is beautiful and an object of desire, regardless of her leg length.

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)

comments

I have had this blog only for a short while, and you my lovey readers have given me great tips, and wonderful words to strengtheng my body-image self-esteem, and for everyone reading too. Thanks!
Here are some particularly splendid comments:

"Come to think of it, no one - neither man nor woman - has ever commented on my short legs. However, they do see the slender waist. I guess that's what we get instead. No one is perfect, but everyone is beautiful."

"I don't think we're screwed if others have slightly shorter legs.... We should feel empowered as they are more people we can relate to that successfully conceal their disproportion. It doesn't really matter how long are legs are! It seems that short legged girls are everywhere and we're ruling! :)"

"Maybe we short legged ladies are more normal than we think and that no one really cares as much as we think they do."

"In a tall woman, a long waist is, I believe even perceived as being sexy and elegant, as the torso is the focus of most attention. Often, a very short waisted person looks rather unattractive and dumpy. "

"I just read about a woman who was lamenting her short torso/long legs. A body type similar to Bette Midler for instance. Where the breasts almost seem to start and end where the waist/pants begin. She said that long slender female torsos were frequently objects of art/sculptures in museums and almost all notably sexy Hollywood actresses/stars have that feature. Upon thinking about it, I think that this is true. There's always something good and bad about our bodies all around, don't you think?"

bathing suit advice

Summer is upon us and the wonderful joy of going to the beach can sometimes be harmed by a bathing suit dilemma. This is when your body is totally out in the open with no dresses or winter coats to mask any insecurities, but there are choices to make your body appear more proportionate and make you feel better about yourself.
To begin with I do not recommend one piece bathing suits (there are many available for tall and long torsoed females), these just draw attention to one long expansive piece of body. However the kind with most of the material being cut out would be fine.

For the top half, a bandeau with or without straps is good, another option is a halter and generally anything with a plunging V neckline. Also two-tone suits, one color on top and another on the bottom, counteract the length of the torso and make the waist look shorter. Make sure the lighter color is on top, and the patterns must go on top as well, to draw the attention upward. Up top you can have the polka dots, the horizontal stripes, the ornaments and embellishments but keep the bottom simple. Tankini's are also fine, but don't have them meet the bottom half, as it looks like a one piece, anyway if you buy your tankini  from a regular place (not designated for tall ladies) it will show a nice strip of bare skin, which is good.

For the bottom half, boy-shorts are entirely taboo as they shorten the legs in the extreme, and low-rise bikini bottoms, the kind that only just cover your private region, are not good either as the torso appears even longer. Instead choose bottoms in a high-waist style, the waist band reaching the hip bones or higher, or somewhere in that region. Also bare in mind that a high-cut style in the leg holes, will lengthen as well, sort of like those crazy 1980s bathing suits pulled way up high, but don't quite wear them like that of course. If you are brave enough, go in a thong, that way the legs will reach even further up!
Another great tip is to simply wear a scarf type cover-up tied at the waist. When you are swimming or lying down do take it off, but when you are strolling about or playing beach games have the scarf tied around your bottom half, in particular at the waist (not at the hips) and that way, the true length of the torso is hidden.

Covering your body in self tanner, and in particular the legs, will make them appear slimmer, and consequently longer.

Shown above are varations with of the halter neck and high rise bikini style.
Check out these darling retro inspired two piece bathing suits at Mod Cloth.
Photos via Victoria's Secrete, JCrew, Lands End, and Target.