I bet you think that if you wear vertical stripes you will look slimmer? Well, you are only partially right. Kyriaki Mikellidou of the University of York, England reports that this “old wives tale” should be adjusted.
Horizontal lines win the slim look
The phenomenon is based on the Helmholtz illusion, in which a square made up of horizontal lines appears to be taller and narrower than one identically sized consisting of vertical lines.
Thus, proximity with horizontal lined objects will garner more attention mainly because they appear slightly bigger. Remember the eye seeks to identify what might influence security and larger objects tend to harbor more threat than small. But don’t’ tell that to a tarantula.
