Does wearing jeans give you a sense of dread? Do you feel that your jeans highlight all the bad bits and make you feel fat? It doesn't have to be that way, in fact, the right pair of jeans can make your legs look terrific. I will point out what to look for when buying a new pair of jeans that flatter your legs.

Tip 1 - Go for Length
Make your legs look as long as possible; so that by emphasizing the length, you minimize the width, it is an optical illusion that works with anything, whether it is a box or a cable, and arm or a leg. Anything the exact same width will look wider if it is shorter and thinner if it is longer. It all comes down to a matter of perspective; it is simply the length in relation to the width. So, if you want people to look at you and think, "What lovely, long legs", rather than think your legs look fat, try to make your legs look as long as possible.

Tip 2 - Avoid Horizontal Lines
Horizontal lines shorten the length of your leg, while vertical lines emphasize the length. The way this optical illusion works is that the visual length will appear to stop at the horizontal line, shortening the length of the leg at that point. Always choose jeans that present a clean vertical line without any horizontal interruptions. Never turn up the cuffs on your jeans or tuck your jeans into your boots as this creates a horizontal line across your leg. Instead, wear long length jeans that almost touch the floor. Hem the jeans if you need to shorten the length for a proper fit, rather than turn up the cuffs.

Tip 3 - Wear High Heels
Wear boots with high heels or high-heeled sandals with your jeans. The high heels allow you to wear longer jeans, and this makes your legs look longer and thinner. Remember that you want to give the illusion of length. When buying jeans, wear high heels to the shops and try on jeans that almost touch the floor with your high heels on, as this will give you a longer, thinner look to your legs. Whatever shoes you are wearing the jeans you wear with them should finish around 1 cm from the ground, this will give you the longest possible leg. Jeans that drag on the ground are too long and will tend to bunch up making it look like your legs are too short for your jeans. Note, you won't always want to wear high heels with your jeans, but don't make the mistake of wearing long jeans with flats, get a separate pair of jeans to wear with flat shoes, remember turning up the cuffs is a big no-no.

Tip 4 - Go for a Bootleg Style
A bootleg style is the most flattering to people with larger thighs. The bootleg cut is between a straight leg and bell-bottom, balancing the width at the ankle with the width at the thigh. Jeans in a bootleg style will even out the width of your leg so that the wider parts at your thighs are not emphasized. Bell-bottom jeans flair out bellow the knee, and are usually wider at the bottom than the top, creating emphasis on the thigh. If you have skinny thighs bell bottoms will emphasize them and your legs will look long and slender but it doesn't work for people with large thighs. While, jeans with a tapered ankle tend to create a comparison between your thighs and your ankles making the thighs look bigger. Tapered jeans also tend to finish at the ankle, rather than go to the floor; making it impossible to achieve the length you need.

Tip 5 - Go for the Darker Shades
A darker shade of denim will make your legs look thinner than when you wear a lighter shade. This follows the same reasoning as a person wearing black, which is said to make you look a few pounds lighter. It doesn't only work with black, it works with any dark colour, so the same can be said for dark blue. Where white can make you look heavier, the same is true for light blue and any other light colours. So steer clear from light coloured jeans if you want to look slim.

You will see a lot of models in pictures looking great in a pair of light colour tapered jeans that finish at the ankle. You may notice, however, that these people have fabulous skinny long legs to start with. So for the rest of us, if you want to make your legs look thinner in jeans, these tips will help you to achieve the look you want. Choose jeans with a length that finishes less than 1 cm from the ground and a bootleg finish. Look for darker shades and avoid horizontal lines.