Following on from my Instagram post the other day on how and where to tie your waistbands when wearing a dress, I thought I’d break it down for you a little more.
If you have no waist whatsoever, you’re probably best off ditching the belt entirely. But that doesn’t always have to be the case. If you want to give a tunic/sack style dress more shape and there’s enough fabric and drape in the dress, you can either belt at the hips and pull the dress up and over the belt a little, to give that ‘blouse-on’ effect. OR you can belt it under the bust above the belly button (this can be tricky to get right though). What you don’t want to do is belt it into your belly button as this will enhance your straight torso.
If you are the opposite figure shape to what I described above, i.e. you have a small waist and bigger hips and legs, belting at the empire line under the bust is a great option but belting at your hips won’t be, this will create the illusion of wider hips which you don’t want if you’re already doing fine in that department!
Where to wear your belt is all about proportions i.e. the higher you wear your belt, the longer your legs look. If you’re a typical hourglass shape, (think Nigella Lawson) belting at the waist, the more you cinch it in, the smaller your waist will look!
I am never a fan of tying the bow of your belt at your back – it is a bit Bo Peep-ish and little girl-ish, I always prefer to bring the tie round to the front and tie it just off centre i.e. to the right or left of your belly button area. You can either tie a bow and make a feature of the tie, or tie a knot and have a less obvious feature. 
Final tip – when dresses have belts with existing belt loops, remember that you can almost always cut the belt loops off, and belt the dress where it suits you best, or just leave it off if you prefer.
I hope those tips helped you! Shout if you have any questions.
x Pippa
Like to get i nfo on basics for winter and places to shop
Helpful article! Thank you Pippa. Have you got something similar about belts and jeans/trousers? What width to go for? Plain belts or embellished belts? On me belts are useful in keeping my pants up but, I have small hips and carry excess weight on my tummy, so belts cut the flub in half… 😬
Thanks again, Cara