5 Tips for Dressing Broad Shoulders & Embracing Your Physique

From years of swimming, I've built up weight in my shoulder, back, and chest area. My broad shoulders, and athletic upper body in general, have been an insecurity of mine. Society and media portray broad shoulders as being very masculine and inelegant, making it hard for us broad-shouldered women to feel confident. But I have found that dressing deliberately in a way to flatter your body can be a catalyst for gaining confidence and building love for your physique.

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I don't know about you, but I'm tired of those articles and blog posts that tell you what to do and what not to do in order to avoid accentuating wide shoulders. Their tips just tell you to wear peplum tops and poofy skirts--things I don't wear. That's why I wanted to make this blog post to give you some hopefully refreshing tips for dressing broad shoulders and to ideally embrace them. Here's what I have come up with from my own experience of finding what works for me. Though some of these tips are more specifically for broad upper bodies, most of these tips go for any body type or insecurity.

1. Show off your shoulders and chest with a straight neckline.

Despite what you might think from external influences, broad shoulders are beautiful! They show your strength. Don't be afraid to show off your shoulders and chest area with a straight neckline or strapless top.

2. Look for wide necklines with straps that come close to your armpits.

I struggle with finding clothing that fits this criteria the most. When you're wearing a top with a narrow neckline and straps that're too far in, the skin that shows between the straps and your armpits can accentuate the broadness of your upper body. I have also found that they just look silly on me because they look awkwardly small (as you can see in the third photo below). This tip kind of contradicts wearing halter tops, which creates an illusion that your shoulders are more narrow, but I personally don't find halter tops to be flattering on me. If you also don't like how halter necklines look on you, and you have a muscular upper body, I would recommend exploring this wide neckline tip.

Hopefully you can tell what I am talking about with these pictures. I much prefer the black swimsuit top on me.

3. Incorporate trends into what works for you instead of following them verbatim.

Don't wear something that you don't feel good in simply because it's trendy. If you find yourself in a Brandy Melville dressing room, debating on whether or not to get that one shirt that everyone has, don't get it if you don't think it suits you. I've always disliked how trends can make you feel like there's something wrong with your body if the trend doesn't work for you. Being stylish does not necessarily equate to being trendy, anyways. But if you want to follow trends, incorporate them into what works for you.

4. Focus on what you like about your body.

I learned this from dress shopping for dances throughout high school. If you don't like your shoulders, focus on another part of your physique that you'd like to accentuate. It can be anything, honestly. Whether it's your booty or calves or chest, flaunt it.

5. Remember your posture!

Posture and confidence go hand in hand. Ever heard of power poses? I think of keeping good posture as a sort of general power pose. Keeping a long spine and your shoulders back also shows off your collarbone and chest, and makes your neck look elongated.

At the end of the day what matters is how you feel in what you wear. If you struggle with body confidence, I hope this helps you to find what you feel good in.