Scarves
Chunky scarves are a model's best friend. True story told to me by a fashion designer at a very important fashion house: A super-famous model showed up the morning of a runway show so bloated and "fat" that the designer's ultra-skinny pants wouldn't button. What did the designer do (after panicking a lot)? She loaded the model up with long, chunky scarves. Not only can long scarves hide your belly paunch (and unbuttoned trousers), but, when repeatedly wound around your neck, they can also camouflage a double chin of nearly any magnitude.
Stay Away From: One single skinny, tie-width scarf wound tight around your neck. You might as well just tie a rope around your neck and declare yourself bound for the pigsty. The rule is: The proportions of your scarf should balance out your body proportions. Wispy models can wear ultra-skinny scarves because they're flat-chested and their arms are the width of my pinky.
Get Some: Multicolored scarves and wear them all at once. If you're flat, they make you look bustier. If you're top-heavy, they distract from your boobiness. Wrap them up to your jawline to literally hide your double chin. The Gap makes some great patterns and lengths at prices so affordable you can buy a dozen. Okay, maybe not a dozen. How about three?
Secret: The French-style sweater-as-a-scarf: Hand's down the most effective way to fake a perfect jawline, especially in photos.
To achieve the casual French "I just threw this around my neck and doesn't it look fabulous and look I'm all cheekbones and jawline" look it's best to start with a fine-gauge black cashmere sweater, though cotton kits and lighter wools like merino will work too. Synthetic knits like viscose are floppy.
Carefully fold it over itself from the sleeves down, flat-wrap it twice around your neck, and tuck in the ends. This is the most slimming "scarf" since it's not as wide or as twisted and bulky as a traditional scarf. Furthermore, the lines of a folded fine-gauge sweater are far more straight than the bulkiness of a knit scarf.
Final bonus: If it gets cold, you can actually put the sweater on your body. This looks especially chic and tres French topping a black sleeveless sheath dress. Super-slimming, my petite powder puff.
