Cut in half

Secretary Hillary Clinton traveled to Tanzania last week. She wore a signature pantsuit, this time in contrasting shades of orange and brown:

The contrasting colors here create a sharp visual line that cuts her body exactly in half. Remember that because we are humans and we bend at the waist, we tend to think of our waist as our "middle" but it isn't. The middle of your body (minus your head) is usually down around the bottom of your hips. Dividing this body exactly in half tends to look clunky. It's much more flattering to alter the proportions a bit, to have a longer section on top or on bottom. For example, look at the lady standing right next to the Secretary in a dark top and print skirt - the skirt portion of her outfit creates a much longer "section" than the top, which looks much more elegant.