Eva Longoria’s Petite Style: 3 Secrets for Longer-Looking Legs

How does 5'1" Eva Longoria look so tall, polished, and proportioned in her career wear? In this celebrity edition of Inside Petite Style, Petite Style Coach Angela Foster breaks down Eva Longoria’s best petite fashion strategies—from wide-leg pants and oversized blazers to dusters and monochromatic outfits—so you can apply them to your own wardrobe.

You don't need to copy celebrity outfits or buy a whole new closet. Instead, discover the exact petite styling rules Eva and her stylists use to create longer-looking legs, define the waistline, and build a timeless business casual style.

In this episode, you’ll discover:

• How to use the ⅓-to-⅔ proportion rule to instantly look taller

• Where your visible waistline really is (and why it fixes frumpy outfits)

• How to wear monochromatic and tonal outfits without defaulting to all-black

• The best shoe choices to extend your visual line (including pointed heels and sneakers)

• How petite women can successfully wear wide-leg trousers without looking swallowed

• The ideal hem length and fabric weight for wide-leg pants on short women

• How to style dusters and blazers to create an elongated column of color

• The oversized petite style combination you should avoid like a swarm of bees

Episode Timestamps:

[00:00] Eva Longoria 5’1” & A Petite Style Icon 

[02:47] How Eva Longoria Creates Longer-Looking Legs 

[03:32] Petite Proportions and the ⅓-to-⅔ Rule 

[04:27] Take The What Is My Body Shape Quiz

[05:26] How to Find Your Visible Waistline 

[06:49] How Petites Can Wear Longer Blazers 

[08:14] Monochromatic Dressing for Petites 

[09:40] Shoes That Make Your Legs Look Longer 

[10:35] How Petites Can Wear Wide-Leg Pants 

[11:55] The #1 Petite Style Mistake to Avoid

[12:30] This Week’s Petite Style Challenge

Resources Mentioned in This Episode:

📌 Take the Petite Body Shape Quiz: https://insidepetitestyle.com/quiz

📌 See the Eva Longoria Petite Style Pinterest Board: https://www.pinterest.com/5047055232cfd4923bc1db5efe6095/eva-longoria-petite-style-timeless-classic/

📌Episode #29: The Best Shoes to Wear With Different Pants for Petites https://www.buzzsprout.com/2518775/episodes/18706376

Transcript

Copy Transcript Copied

SPEAKER_01 0:00

This week is an Inside Petite Style Celebrity Edition, where we're gonna dig into Eva Longoria's Petite Style Choices and how, despite being only 5'1, she consistently creates the most amazing illusion of long legs, and how she and her stylists create flattering outfits even when she breaks those standard petite style rules. Now, this isn't about copying her style. What it is about though is noticing what she does so so well, taking what you like and what that resonates with you, and translating that to your own style. And there are so many brilliant style strategies for us to notice, like how she successfully styles wide leg pants, her color choices, and how she's created a timeless style that means there's no need to go out every season and do a ton of shopping because everything always looks current and modern. You'll walk away from this episode with some super valuable tips. And be sure to stick around until the end when we do talk about one style decision and how it's best to avoid it, like a swarm of bees, because it does not work on petites. I'm Angela, your petite style coach, and when you're ready, let's dive in. You know those mornings when you're standing in your closet, you're pressed for time, need to get dressed and out the door, yet despite the fact that your closet is overflowing with clothes, you have nothing to wear. When you're petite, that's not a you problem, that's a brand and retailer problem. Because most of them don't even design clothes for women under 5'7. Pile on all the generic petite style advice, and no wonder getting dressed is so bloom and frustrating. But not for you, not anymore. Welcome to Inside Petite Style, the only podcast created exclusively for women, 5'3 and under. I'm Angela Foster, Petite Style Coach since 2018, and every week you and I will talk about why petite proportions require a different approach. The styles that actually flatter your body shape and work with your lifestyle. Plus, get all the insider shortcuts on where to shop so you're not wasting hours scrolling, or even worse, settling for good enough. Because this is about more than looking good. It's about walking into any room, a big presentation, a client meeting, a family event, or heck, just Tuesday, and feeling confident and polished with a style as smart and savvy as you are. Let's get this style party started. In case you haven't seen Eva Longoria lately, she looks amazing. And she's maybe aged one month since starring in The Desperate Housewives two decades ago or more. But speaking of Desperate Housewives, in case you're picturing her style like it was back then, with everything body con, necklines down to her waist, an unbelievable amount of cleavage and skirts you were really confident would flash her panties at any moment, rest assured, her style has changed a lot. Of course, so has her career and her businesses, of which there are oodles. There's the Food and Travel show on CNN, her relationship with L'Oreal, her directing, her philanthropic work, and don't forget owning the portion of two sports teams. Honestly, it's enough to make the rest of us look like slackers. But, anyways, while we could chat about her red carpet looks or her street style or her casual weekend wear, what will be the most helpful and relevant to us is her career wear style. Like when she's sitting on a panel or being interviewed in the media or hosting and attending various events and benefits. So that's what we're gonna focus on. Now, first things first, how petite is Eva? Now, I said 5'1 in the intro, but it really depends on which site you land on. She's anywhere from almost 5'1, because you know how petites love to do that, to 5'2. And you didn't ask, but in case you're curious, she's 51. So now, given the whole 5'1 thing, how come she looks so much bloomin' longer than that anytime you see her? A lazy answer would be for me to say, oh, it's the four-inch heels she wears all the time. The better answer is that every style choice she and her stylists make is designed to create the illusion of length. And if she didn't do those three things, the heels would only make so much of a difference. Oh, by the way, all the pictures we're gonna see are from the Eva Longoria Petite Style Pinterest board, and I'll be sure to add the link to the show notes so that you can check it out. Because we're gonna look at oodles of good images, and there are even more on the board. Okay, so style tip number one is proportion and our vertical line. Next to body shape, the most powerful choice we can make is when we pair items together that stop and start at the right spot, which is what we mean by proportion. Let's level set real quick and look at it like this. Great outfits are great because they help us create an illusion of a balanced body shape or that our legs are longer than our torso. Specifically, that the distance from our waist to the top of our head is a third of our height, and that from our waist to the floor is two-thirds of our overall height. We do this by choosing skirts and pants that end right at our visible waistline, and ideally tops where the hems hit at our visible waistline or at our hip bones at the very longest. No, wait, because I know someone is saying right now, but I'm long-waisted or short waisted, I hear you. Where your real waistline is doesn't matter because you guessed it, we're creating an illusion. We talk about that and a lot more when you take the petite body shape quiz. So if you haven't already, when this episode wraps up, you'll want to hop on over to insidepetitstyle.com forward slash quiz and go ahead and take it. Now, in case you're thinking to skip the quiz because you already know your body shape and you're an apple or a pear or a banana or something else that belongs in a fruit salad, you may want to reconsider because petes are special. And the generic advice that works for our taller sisters doesn't work for us because we're short. Unfortunately, listening to that generic advice is what leads us to choosing the wrong styles and creates a closet packed with clothes that we don't love and definitely are not excited about wearing. I know your time is super precious, so don't worry, the quiz is only seven questions and takes about two minutes. And I'll also add that link to the show notes so you don't have to hunt it down. Okay, back to Eva and how she consistently nails petite proportion. A quick way to tell where your visible waistline is is by standing up and let your arms hang down by your sides. Then you want to take one arm and bend it and then place your elbow along the side of your torso. And that is where your visible waistline is, and that's where you want the top of your waistband to hit, or the top of your blouse, or slightly below. So again with the blouse, visible waistline, or betwe above the top of your hip bone. Now let's take a look at some terrific examples and one bad one. In case you're listening to the episode, I will do my very best to describe the outfit so you're not missing out. Plus, I'll be sure to add the link to the video for when you're in the mood to watch it. Okay, let's start off with this green wide leg pant and top combination. The way her left arm is bent, you can see exactly what we were talking about in regard to visible waistline. If her elbow was just a smidge closer to her torso, it would land right at the top of her waistband. This yellow jumpsuit is another example. By her adding a slightly darker yellow belt, she maximizes the illusion of her leg length, plus adds super valuable waist definition. She even keeps the proportion when she's dressed casual, like in this picture, wearing sweatpants. Or in this one, which I love, she looks so cute. Now, what about blazers that are technically too long? I'm so glad you asked. Two things make this outfit work. The fact that she keeps the proportion of her top and her pants underneath the blazer spot on compensates for the blazer length. So if you ever run into a similar situation, that's a great way to handle it. Otherwise, this outfit would definitely fall into the petite don't do it pile. Here's one last picture, and this one's even better because not only are her proportions spot on, but she made a great color choice. Now we'll talk about color in a bit, but this off-white and light beige tonal outfit is super flattering and still makes her look longer. Okay. Oh, hey, also check out her sneakers. In case you think we always need to wear high heels with wide leg pants, we don't, and she proves it. Okay, ready for our don't picture? Here it is. In case you can't see it, it's a light lavender boxy blazer oversized that ends a couple inches below the top of her thighs. Then she paired it with a pair of lavender cropped wide leg pants. There are countless reasons why this outfit doesn't work, but the biggest takeaway is that the ankle length crop pants shortens her vertical line prematurely. Then the hem of the blazer cuts to her remaining length in half. Again, there's a lot more we could say, but we'll let it go. What do you say we talk about her color choices next? Airing monochromatic separates in the same outfit is one of the easiest things petites can do to create a flattering outfit. Because that column of color, you guessed it, makes us look longer and leaner. And she does monochromatic a lot. What she does that makes monochromatic more fun though is pushing the envelope beyond all black or all white to bronze, hot pink, navy, olive green, and all the other colors that you can think of. Now, I'm not sure we've talked about it before, but monochromatic is flattering, yes. It's also timeless, classy, and reads very elevated. So in case that is one of your wardrobe goals, you'll definitely want to remember this for the future. Two other things that she does that takes tonal and monochromatic dressing up a notch, and the first is adding a duster. It's such an easy tweak for petites, it's kind of surprising we don't see it more often. It creates that column of color without necessarily needing your entire outfit to be monochromatic. Like in this picture where she's wearing wide leg white pants and a black or it could be navy top, adding that black ankle length duster over top creates that longer visual line and it also raises the dressy factor up of the whole outfit. The second thing is her shoe choice. We've seen this in nearly every picture of her, and it's worth pointing out. She doesn't stop at the dusters or at the monochromatic separates to create that column of color. She extends it all the way to her feet by doing one or two things, sometimes both. The first is pointed toe heels. The arrow shape of the toe creates the illusion that her legs go on and on and on. The other shoe she wears a lot is one that matches her skin tone or is super close, like even white or silver. Just imagine how much different the last two outfits would look with, say, like a black or a chocolate brown shoe, not nearly as elongating. However, when she does choose a contrasting color, it's typically a strappy style, a strappy style, so that it never feels heavy or dramatically breaks her visual line. Okay, we're ready for the third style technique, Eva, because apparently you and I are on a first name basis with her now, and that is wide leg pants. Now we talk about pants a lot on the show because when petites get them right, they look so good. There are two things she does really well that we should pay attention to, though. Here are the wide leg pants we saw earlier when we were talking about proportion, and they are nearly as wide as a boss. But she and petites everywhere can get by with them because the material is thin, and the way they tease at her shape underneath, they avoid making her look bigger than she is. Say, compare and contrast these versus if they had been made out of a thick denim or a bulky corduroy or something like that. The second thing she does so well is the length. You may remember from the episode about different leg shapes and which shoes go best, that our goal is for the hem of wide leg pants to touch the top of our toes when we have our shoes on. One of Eva's stylists went a step further and said one millimeter off the floor. Talk about specific. But both of those things, the volume of the material and the length, makes her look longer versus shorter and wider, like if you remember the lavender picture we saw earlier. As promised earlier, here is the petite style that we should avoid. And that is pairing a long, shapeless, boxy, oversized blazer with wide leg pants. The reason why is that choosing two styles that are oversized and roomy and then pairing them together guarantees we'll look overwhelmed and swallowed up with material. Although I don't know about you, but I'm constantly grateful that photographers are not following me around, memorializing every bad fashion choice I've ever made. Okay, do you know what time it is? Yep, it's time for this week's style challenge because listening to the episode and hearing the petite tips is good, but it's putting those tips into practice that makes your closet feel cohesive and when getting dressed starts to get easier. So take just one of Eva Longoria's style techniques and use it this week when putting together your outfit. It could be the proportions. Does the waistband reach your visible waistline? Does the hem of your top or blazer hit the top of your hip bones or above? If not, switch things up so that they do. Or choose pieces that create a monochromatic column of color. Or swap out your shoes so the hem hits exactly one millimeter off the floor and no higher. Just kidding. Afterwards, shoot me an email at hello at angela stylecoach.com and share all the juicy details. How did your choice up level the outfit? And more important, how did it change the way you felt in it? Before you leave, be sure to follow the show so you never miss out on a petite style tip because petites deserve clothes that fit their height and flatter their body shape so that they leave the house every single day feeling confident. Thanks so much for hanging out, and I will see you back here next week. Till then, have fun and stay stylish. Thanks for tuning in to Inside Petite Style. When you're ready to turn your closet packed with clothes into a room filled with actual outfits you like and, dare I say, are excited to put on in the morning, head on over to AngelaStylecoach.com forward slash coaching to see the different ways you and I can work together. We'll create a wardrobe that fits your height, flatters your body shape, works for your real life, and reflects how wildly successful you already are. And hey, you know that girlfriend who's always rolling up her sleeves and hemming her pants? Share this episode with her. She needs to know she's not alone and that there are real solutions. See you next week. Until then, have fun and stay stylish.