Grow taller visually
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Wear clothes with a herringbone print

Wear clothes with a herringbone print

In your opinion, how do the vertical lines curve in the picture: inwards or outwards?

Wundt's Angle Illusion

They are parallel, but we perceive them as curved inwards — this is the Wundt illusion.

The acute angles at the intersection of the red and blue lines appear wider to us than they actually are, so the farther from the center, the more distance between red lines.1

Explanation of Wundt's Angle Illusion

If you apply such a drawing to the road, drivers perceive it as narrow. In one study, this led to a decrease in speed before a dangerous curve.2

To elongate the silhouette and make some body parts look slimmer, try the following arrow prints in clothing3.

Using the angle illusion in clothing
Image. Using the angle illusion in clothing. 1 — Widening of the hips. 2 — Broadening of shoulders and emphasis on the chest. 3 — Emphasis on the waist and chest. 4 — Broadening of shoulders and hips, narrowing of the waist (Qurashi 2021)

  1. Donaldson, J. and Macpherson, F. (July 2017), ‘Wundt Illusion’ in F. Macpherson (ed.), The Illusions Index. Retrieved from https://www.illusionsindex.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=32&catid=8 ↩

  2. SHINAR†, David; ROCKWELL, THOMAS H.; MALECKI‡, JOSEPH A. (1980). The effects of changes in driver perception on rural curve negotiation∗. Ergonomics, 23(3), 263–275. doi:10.1080/00140138008924739 ↩

  3. Qurashi, Wafaa. (2021). Fabric manipulation techniques with optical illusion as design solutions for different woman’s body types. International Design Journal. 11. 411-421. 10.21608/idj.2021.164304 ↩

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