A couple of months ago I was discussing coloured jeans with a colleague. I'd never actually bought any but felt I should. Jen has them but often feels too self-conscious to wear them. Most of us have parts of our bodies which we dislike and it can feel a bit like we're pointing a flashing arrow at them if we highlight them with colour.

All this got me thinking about the things I do when I want to to work around parts of my body I'm not feeling confident about.

I am no different with regard to body image issues but I am fortunate that I can exercise and 'diet' (I use that term loosely since I merely monitor my calorie intake if I want to move weight around) myself into proportions I can live with. Only a couple of years ago finding pants that would go over my thighs and still fit around the waist was problematic so finding a skinny pair of jeans would have been challenging. I felt conscious about my thighs and actively worked on slimming them down again and now I've divested the extra kilos I'm back to skinny jeans, ponti pants and short shorts.

Given the style challenge this year I thought it likely that just about every colour in the randomiser would eventually going to end up with "pants" as the style challenge so the last time I went thrifting I actually bought a couple of stretch denim jeans: one in red and one in green.

Yesterday's challenge was actually pants of any colour and my other half voted for green. A chance to put my thrifted jeans to work and share a few visual tricks. Yusss!



So here are a few tips for wearing coloured legs if you're not au fait with them:

• If you feel that coloured jeans merely draw attention to booty and/or thighs that you feel self-conscious about, then pick a top that's at least as deep in colour as the jeans so that undue attention isn't placed on your ass-ets.
• Unless you're building off a colour palette from a jumping off point that will bring the whole outfit together, choose a top that's in a neutral colour. Wearing a red top with green jeans can make you look like a wannabe Christmas elf so stick to black, white, denim blue or a shade of tan.
• Your legs take up a lot of visual real estate so be sure to bring the eye of the beholder back up by using some statement up top - in my case I've chosen tonally complementary neck candy.
• In as much as colour on the bottom half can draw other people's the attention down don't fall prey to it too. Look at your whole self in the mirror and match the shape of your top to the shape you're aiming for. If the colour and style of the jeans throws you into a pear shape and you were aiming for hourglass, choose a top that visually broadens your shoulders.
• I don't assume these days that you're wanting hourglass: if you're for big booty pear juiciness per Minaj and Azalea then visually narrow your shoulders. A top that cuts in a bit on the armholes can make you appear bigger down there.
• Finally, just as wearing a pair of black shoes with black pants can visually lengthen your leg, wearing similar tones on your tootsies can make your legs look longer and therefore slimmer. This works even with flats but I prefer to make an extra couple of inches over and above the visual trickery!