Adrienne Colcher says her hourglass figure, a size 6 or 8 depending on the brand, is the perfect canvas for her fashion finds.

“I can really go to a lot of stores and find clothes that fit and look good on me,” Colcher, Garden City senior, says about her preppy-chic style. “It’s all about knowing what styles are trendy and how I can make those trends work with my body.”

Colcher’s wardrobe is more diverse now than it was when she started college. She sports everything from polos and straight-leg jeans to baby-doll dresses and fitted cardigans, all with a fashionable poise that is indicative of her style, knowledge and understanding of her body.

“My closet is jam-packed with versatile clothes,” she says. “I know now that more things actually fit me than I first thought.”

Despite a closet full of figure-friendly frocks, Colcher does have difficulty with some parts of her wardrobe.

“It’s hard for me to find trendy denim because my hips are larger than my waist and the fashionable jeans tend to be low-rise,” she says. “I just have to make do with what I’ve got and get something that’s in style and comfortable.”

Not everybody can easily grasp the concept of styling oneself based on body type. You can’t let trends dictate how you dress. Forget style, we’re talking about fit, dimensions and shape. There is no gray area. When you attempt to convey a current style with no regard to your body shape, you are putting yourself at risk to commit a heinously tragic fashion sin.

For example, the apple-shaped girl—stocky on the top and middle sections of the body with narrow, skinny legs—who walked into Wescoe Hall the other day wearing a tight-fitting, midsection-bearing shirt and skinny jeans and sporting what I refer to as an “ass bag”—the extra fabric in pants that creates a pseudo-diaper. Tragic! Or we can discuss the wonderfully styled, but ill-fitting, XL coat a guy draped over his medium-sized body a few weeks ago on Jayhawk Boulevard. “Hey, man, I like your coat,” his friend says. “Hey, man, you look like a turtle,” I think to myself.

Fit is the most important component of style, says Clinton Kelly, fashion guru and co-host of TLC’s hit show “What Not To Wear.” He says he witnesses one too many fashion victims throughout the day and most of the style crimes are a result of over- or undersized clothing. Kelly and co-host Stacy London were able to pinpoint problem areas for virtually every body shape, for both men and women, and provide perfect solutions to those problems in their 256-page style bible, Dress Your Best: The Complete Guide to Finding the Style That’s Right for Your Body. Kelly says one of the major issues is people wearing clothes that don’t accentuate the body underneath. He adds that these problems contribute to the oversized nature of American culture in general.

“Oversized sweatshirts need to be abolished,” Kelly says. “They make you look like shapeless dumplings.”

Once you realize what type of body you have and how you’ve been wrongfully dressing yourself, you can begin to base your style on fit rather than trends.

Feminine fashion guidelines

Misty Huber, assistant fashion editor at Shape Magazine and creator of www.yourvirtualstylist.com, a virtual paradise of abundant knowledge on various body types and the do’s and don’ts associated with each, says that women should attempt to create an hourglass shape with their clothes. She says that an hourglass figure is the most flattering look for women and is an easy place to start because women’s bodies already have the natural components of the shape.

She says women should find clothes that emphasize the best part of their bodies. She suggests that all women should find the smallest circumferential area between the bust and the hips. For most women, the waist is smallest, so Huber says to purchase pieces that are cinched or belted at the waist. On other women, the area immediately below the bust is the smallest, and Huber suggests they fill their wardrobe with clothes that have an empire fit—a style where the horizontal seaming sits directly under the bust.

Huber says that women sometimes make style mistakes despite having the best intentions. In an attempt to hide troublesome areas, like a larger bust or an awkward body shape, women create even more dilemmas that accentuate the problem spots instead of highlighting the best parts. Busty women sometimes wear turtlenecks or other high necklines to try to hide the size of their breasts. “This makes them look like they have one massive uniboob sitting on their chest,” Huber says. Instead, these women should look for V- or U-necklines that can pair up with a cami to reduce cleavage. If you have a pear- or apple-shaped body, Huber says to avoid wearing tight clothes on the more slender parts associated with these body types; the top and bottom, respectively. She recommends a more comfortable fit for slender areas and a more tailored look for stockier sections.

University documents show that the student population at the Lawrence campus is nearly 50-50 in terms of girls to guys. And when you walk through campus sometimes, a large percent of the more than 11,000-strong male population on campus looks rather drab.

La mode pour les hommes

You guys may wonder, why the French? Well, roughly translated, it means: mimic the runways of Paris and sport a high-end look tailored to fit your made-for-style stature.

However you acquired your body, whether by working hard at the gym or winning the genetic lottery, use what you have. A broad upper-body, angling inward toward a narrow, 32-inch waist, all truncated by a pair of lean legs—this, my friends, was what Michelangelo envisioned when he sculpted “David,” yet some of our on-campus Adonises still embrace ordinary oversized outfits.

Although most “What Not To Wear” participants are women, Clinton Kelly and gang still have rules for men. Kelly says to accentuate the shoulders and upper-body using fitted clothing with strong seaming. This is achievable with the help of fitted sweaters and jackets that hit right at the hip and have a small amount of cinching in the torso.

As stated before, Kelly emphatically condemns oversized clothing, and this goes for both sexes. Kelly says that jeans and pants should be fitted while maintaining a sense of comfort. A simple straight-leg pant makes a remedial effort against the problem of baggy jeans. Kelly adds that the crotch of the jean shouldn’t be too far away from its anatomical counterpart.

Finding clothes that don’t drown you out isn’t easy, but the search gets harder when you know what style you want but haven’t quite figured out which areas of your body to play up.

Stylish siren, not plus-sized debacle

Sometimes overweight people dress exactly like an extra-small model, when obviously an extra-small frame isn’t the same as a larger one. Don’t let it get you down, though; with the help of body-appropriate clothing, you can turn fashion no-nos into a wonderful look that’s sure to turn heads.

Fiona Dieffenbacher, associate director of external projects in the fashion design department at Parsons The New School for Design, says plus-sized women have a more difficult time keeping up with trends. She says plus-sized women’s limited silhouettes accommodate only certain items that accentuate a larger frame. Dieffenbacher notes the recent leggings trend as an unflattering style for plus-sized women. She says that when your body isn’t necessarily the best fit for a trend, tweak it to make it work for you. She adds that plus-sized women should avoid any clothes that bring attention to the notorious trouble areas: the torso and hips.

Dieffenbacher says to choose styles that elongate the body and create a flowing line. She recommends that plus-sized women not purchase tight-fitting tops or pants because they break the body into two parts. She says that accessories, such as shawls or scarves, can cover up potential problem areas like upper arms or the neck. Unshapely dresses should be tossed out of the closet, she adds, not only because they make you look like a tent, but they also detract from the areas of your body that you might be comfortable showing off.

Color adds to the appeal of your clothes, Dieffenbacher says. She affirms the common fashion rule that black is a slimming color. She also suggests keeping the color story in tonal harmony or all one color. Too many colors or loud patterns accentuate size. She says it’s definitely OK to add an accent color with your handbag, shoes or a jacket.

Styling for women is about emphasizing, or creating, the perfectly feminine figure.

Fashionable and 5-foot

Katie Bohl, Olathe senior, meticulously sifts through the crowded racks at Forever 21, 1847 Village West Parkway at the Legends in Kansas City, Kan.

“There are so many things here,” she says, eyeing a dark gray trench. “Sometimes I walk out with nothing and sometimes I find some great pieces.”

The 5-foot Bohl, standing in line at the register among a group of tweens half a foot taller than her, mid-length trench in tow, says she can’t let her height weigh her style down.

“Most of my favorite stores make clothes for girls with a little bit of height,” she says.“So a lot of times, I have to mix and match to find pieces that give me a good sense of style and don’t make me look like I’m 12 years old.”

Bohl says she typically buys straight-leg jeans and form-fitting tops for a casual look. “Anything else will make you look tiny,” she says. “The point is to emphasize everything but your small height, and clothes that make you look a little curvier give off an illusion of height.”

She adds that it’s important to identify the length of tops and bottoms. Proportionate clothing—tops that touch the hips and pants that hit right at the floor—is essential in order to be a stylish petite person.

From small to tall, fit is essential and it’s important to realize that clothes are about presentation and appearance. You don’t want to look like a pre-pubescent girl or a lanky toothpick because you couldn’t get something right.

Size doesn’t matter; it’s how you use it

According to Centers for Disease Control, American men ages 20 to 39 are 20 pounds heavier and an inch taller than they were in 1960. In addition, the U.S. National Center for Health Statistics found that nearly 5 percent of men ages 20 to 29 are 6 feet 3 inches or taller, accounting for millions of men.

Six-foot-4-inch “What Not to Wear” co-host Clinton Kelly says taller guys have a more difficult time finding clothes that are lengthy enough to fit. Kelly suggests that you broaden the shoulder with a strong jacket or a sweater with stripes across the chest. He adds that like most people, tall men have to be mindful of trends, such as V-necks, which are a hot item in men’s fashion right now. Taller men should avoid V-necks because they elongate the neck to giraffe status. Overall, Kelly says oversized clothes make taller men look scrawny, so wear clothes that fit closer to the body for a fashionable look.

Your body is an empty canvas and understanding what looks best on it is essential. Once you realize this, you can turn a paint-by-numbers watercolor into an artistic masterpiece worthy of the Louvre. Or in this case, the world outside your closet.